
Class, Mr,J^^ 
Book *LJ Z 3- 



CopyriglitN^L_iM2' 



CDEmiGHT DEPOSIT. 







L.L. POATES ENG. CO., N.Y. 



110 Lonyitmle 



Frontispiece 




maM 



Airplane \icw in Washington, D. C. Potomac River, Tidal Basin, 
Washington ISIonument, Treasury, White House, etc. (pages 24, 26). 



CARPENTER'S NEW GEOGRAPHICAL READER 



NORTH AMERICA 



BY 



FRANK G. CARPENTER, Litt.D. 

author of 

''around the world with the children" and 

"readers on commerce and industry" 




AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 

BOSTON ATLANTA 



c^Y 



BOOKS BY 
FRANK G. CARPENTER 



"Reading Carpenter is Seeing the World" 

ITntroDuction to (Beocirapb^ 

AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE CHILDREN 

(3coarapbical IReaDers 

NORTH AMERICA 

SOUTH AMERICA 

EUROPE 

ASIA 

AFRICA 

AUSTRALIA AND ISLANDS OF THE SEA 

IRcaOers on Commerce anD f nDuetrs 

HOW THE WORLD IS FED 
HOW THE WORLD IS CLOTHED 
HOW THE WORLD IS HOUSED 



Copyright, 1898, 1910, 1915, 1922, by 
FRANK G. CARPENTER 

CARP. N. AMER. 
E. P. I. 



MADE IN U.S.A. 



SLP28'22 



©CI.A(iS3435 



PREFACE 

For more than twenty years Carpenter's Geographical 
Readers have held a large place in the teaching of geog- 
raphy. They have supplied the flesh and blood necessary 
to clothe the dry bones of the geographic textbooks, and 
have made the countries and peoples living wholes in the 
minds of the pupils. In these books, written in the form of 
personally conducted tours over each continent, the children 
themselves have traveled with the author by land and sea 
from country to country and from city to city all over the 
globe, visiting the peoples on their farms and in their fac- 
tories to learn how they live and work, and how each is 
associated with us and the other nations in the industries 
and trade of the world. 

Carpenter's New Geographical Readers, of which this 
volume on North America is one, are revisions of the origi- 
nal books, based upon tens of thousands of miles of new 
travels and research in the countries described. The books 
have been rewritten in the light of these travels and in ac- 
cordance with the economic, industrial, and commercial 
demands of the present. They have all the features that 
have made the Carpenter readers so much loved by the 
children, and they have many other features which will 
increase their value as textbooks to be used in connection 
with any supplementary work in geography. 

The value of the changes will be seen by an examination 
of the present volume. The new "North America" is 
equipped with a series of problem and research questions 
and proposed journeys which, worked out in connection 



8 PREFACE 

with the distance and other tables at the back of the book, 
will, it is believed, give each pupil a practical grasp of the 
chief cities and industrial localities of our continent, as well 
as a working knowledge of its resources and trade. 

With the proper use of the text and the tables at the 
back, any child should be able to tell how he can travel 
from his home by the shortest route to the chief ports of 
the other continents, and give an approximate idea of the 
distance he will travel and how long he will be on the way. 
He should be able to trace goods to and from the great 
ports of North America, and learn the trade routes of the 
United States and other parts of the world. 

Throughout the new "North America" the author has 
kept in mind the importance of the United States as a part 
of our continent. Indeed, the book might rightly be en- 
titled a United States Reader, for it deals chiefly with the 
United States and with the other countries of North Amer- 
ica as related to us. Moreover, it deals with the United 
States in the international place it has held since the 
World War, and the place it holds industrially and com- 
mercially in the work of the world. 

In the new ''North America" the world relations of our 
country are kept uppermost in the minds of the children. 
The pupil studies the industries and resources of his own 
country as related to those of other parts of the world, and 
the part that each has in the new world of today. He learns 
also the important place that the United States now holds 
in this great world, and becomes proud of the fact that it is 
his country and that he is a part of it. The book bristles 
with Americanism. It is an American book written from 
the American standpoint for the American child, and it 
cannot but foster and stimulate patriotic Americanism in 
the minds of the pupils. 



CONTENTS 

'TER PAGE 

I. General View or North x\merica ... 13 

II. Our National Capital .... 20 

III. A Visit to the President and to the Halls of 

Congress 28 

IV. Departments of the Government — State, 

Navy, and War .38 

V. Departments of the Government — Treasury 41 
VI. Departments of the Government — Justice, 

Post Office, Commerce, Labor ... 46 
VII. Departments of the Government — Interior 

AND Agriculture ..... 50 

VIII. Baltlmore and the Oyster Beds •• • 55 

IX. Philadelphia^A Visit to the Mint . 61 

X. New York and Some of its Wonders 72 

XI. Our Foreign Commerce . . .81 

XII. New England — Commerce and Manufactures . 95 

XIII. Among the Mountains and Lakes of New Eng- 

land . . . .109 

XIV. Boston 115 
XV. The Southern States — From Boston to Nor- 
folk BY Steamer .126 

XVI. Up the James River — The Tobacco Industry 132 

XVII. In the Land of Cotton . 139 

XVIII. In a Great Cotton Mill 146 

XIX. Atlanta, Birmingham, and Charleston — The 

Turpentine Industry . . . 152 

XX. Florida ........ 160 

XXL A Visit to an Orange Grove . . .166 

XXIL Across the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans 

— The Mississippi Jetties . . ... 171 

9 



lO 



CONTENTS 



CH'^PTER 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 
XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 

XLII. 

XLIII. 

XLIV. 

XLV. 

XL VI. 

XL VII. 

XL VIII. 

XLIX. 



A Visit to a Sugar Plantation 

The Southwestern States — A Great Salt Mine 

Texas — We Visit the Sulphur Mines 

Our Great Fields of Petroleum 

Travels in the Oil Regions — How Kerosene 

'and Gasoline are Made . 
Up the Mississippi to St. Louis 
Harnessing the Mississippi — The Keokuk Dam 

and Falls of St. Anthony . 
In the Corn Belt ..... 
In our Great Wheat Lands 
From the Wheat Farm to the Flour Barrel 
The Iron Mines of Lake Superior . 
A Tramp through the Woods — Our Lumber 

Industry ..... 

The Great Lakes— Our Most Important Water 

WAY .... 
Our Cities on the Lakes 
At Niagara Falls 
Niagara in Harness 
In the Coal Regions 
We Visit a Coal Mine 
Pittsburgh — A Great Workshop of Iron and 

Steel — How Coke is Made 
Akron and the Rubber Industry — -Cincinnati 

Louisville, and Indianapolis 
Chicago . 

A City of Animals — We Visit Milwaukee 
On the Roof of our Continent — The Great 
Western Highland 
Our Nation's Wonderland — The National 
Parks . . . . 

A Visit to the Yellowstone National Park 
A Trip Through a Gold Mine . 
A Day in a Silver Mine .... 



CONTENTS 



II 



L. 

LI. 

LIT 

LIIT 

LIV. 

LV. 

LVT 

LVIT 

LVIIT 

LIX. 

LX. 

LXI. 

LXIT 

LXIIT 

LXIV. 

LXV. 

LXVI. 

LXVIL 

LXVIIT 

LXIX. 

LXX. 

LXXI. 

LXXII. 

LXXIIT 

LXXIV. 

T/BLES . 

Index . 



A Mountain of Copper .... 
Across the Western Plateau . . . 
Salt Lake City ..... 

In Uncle Sam 's Oases .... 
The Pacific Coast States — California . 
Los Angeles and San Francisco 
The Pacific Northwest — Portland . 
Puget Sound and the Inland Empire 
Among the Indians ..... 
An Airplane Flight through Alaska 
Eskimos and Indians — A Trip up the Yukon 
British America — General View 
Northern Canada — The Fur Lands — Indians 

AND Eskimos 
Western and Central Canada — Across the 

Rockies and Wheat Belt into Ontario 
Eastern Canada — Ottawa, Montreal, and 

Toronto . . 
Quebec — The Maritime Provinces 
Mexico — General View . 
From Vera Cruz to Mexico City 
The Capital of Mexico 
The Aztecs and the Indians of Today 
We Climb Popocatepetl — A Visit to the Oil 

Fields .... 

Central America — General View 
A Trip through Guatemala 
The Banana Industry — From Puerto Barrias 

TO Balboa ..... 
The Panama Canal — Home to New York 



491 
503 



LIST OF MAPS 



United States . 

North America 

Middle Atlantic States 

New England States 

South Atlantic States and South Central States 

North Central States 

Plateau States 

Pacific States 

Alaska 

Dominion of Canada 

Mexico 

Central America 

Panama Canal 



124, 
218, 



420, 



PAGE 

2,3 

17 

60 

96 

219 
320 
368 
404 
421 

444 
468 

483 



NORTH AMERICA 



I. GENERAL VIEW OF NORTH AMERICA 



THIS book is the story of our travels through the North 
American continent. Most of our time will be spent 
in that part of it known as the United States, which we 
are proud to call our own country. 




We shall make several journeys by airplane in our travels through 
North America. 

What would you think of a farmer who did not know his 
own farm Or what he had on it, or the manager of a factory 
who knew nothing of the machines or other things he was 
making, or of a merchant who had no idea of the goods he 
had to sell or the customers who might come to buy? I 

13 



14 NORTH AMERICA 

venture you would say that each of these men was foolish^ 
and that he ought to wake up and bestir himself to learn all 
about his property and how it should be managed for his 
own good and that of his neighbors. 

Now, the boys and girls of this country, together with 
their parents, are the owners of the most valuable farm, the 
greatest factory, and the biggest store upon earth. The 
farm produces so much food in wheat, oats, corn, and other 
crops, and in sheep, cattle, and hogs, that it is able to supply 
not only all that we need, but to send food abroad to mil- 
lions of people of other lands. It produces so much cotton 
that it furnishes more than half the clothing of the whole 
human race, and it has also a great part of all of the coal, 
iron, copper, gold, and silver on earth. The factory makes 
goods of many kinds, which sell for billions of dollars a 
year and are shipped all over the world. The store is the 
biggest mercantile business known to man, a business which 
supplies all our own wants, and trades with every people 
upon the globe. This farm, this factory, and this store be- 
long to the United States, and we, as their owners, should 
know all about them and the part they play in our lives 
and in the life and work of the world. That is what we shall 
try to find out in this book. 

Before we start let us take a general view of the North 
American continent. We want to know just where we live 
on it and some things about the other countries which are 
our next-door neighbors. We can do this by looking at 
North America on the globe; or, better, let us suppose we 
have taken a magic car, a hundred times swifter than any 
airplane, and have shot through space up to the moon. 
We shall suppose we are standing there with telescopes so 
powerful we can see the whole earth as it turns slowly 
around under our eyes. 



GENERAL VIEW 15 

Where is North America, and how does it look when 
spread out below us? We see first the oceans. They 
sparkle like silver under the rays of the sun, and the masses 
of dry land look darker. We observe that North America is 
on the northern half of the earth. It is on that half of the 
globe that has the most land, and where the most people 
live. It is in the richest and busiest part of the earth's 
surface and so bounded by oceans on the east and the west 
that ships can easily go back and forth to trade with other 
parts of the world. 

Now let us take a rapid glance around the coasthne of the 
continent. At the northwest is Bering Strait, which sepa- 
rates North America from Asia. It is a thin line of silvery 
water so narrow that the Eskimos sometimes cross over in 
their skin boats to Siberia. Starting there our eyes travel 
southward along the western shores of Alaska, the Dominion 
of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America 
to the Isthmus of Panama. Crossing the Isthmus not far 
from our canal, and turning to the north, we follow the coast 
of Central America and Mexico, and then move along the 
United States to New England and on by the rocky shores 
of Newfoundland and Labrador. A little later our eyes 
turn to the west and roam along the swampy tundras of 
the Arctic coast until they reach our starting point at Bering 
Strait. 

This coastline, with its windings, is as long as the dis- 
tance around the world at the equator. It has many fine 
harbors, and also places where one may go by water far 
into the land, such as the St. Lawrence River and Great 
Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay. This shows 
us how well North America is suited for trading with its 
neighbors by sea. 

The view gives us also an idea of the vast extent of North 



i6 NORTH AMERICA 

America. The continent extends from near the North 
Pole almost to the equator, and therefore lies in the frigid, 
temperate, and torrid zones. It contains one sixth of all 
the land upon earth, and is surpassed in area only by Asia 
and Africa. 

As we stand upon the moon, North America looks to us 
much as it does on a relief map. We can see that most of 
it is made up of plains which extend north and south be- 
tween high plateaus and long mountain ranges, forming a 
great central valley or lowland. The green Appalachians, 
west of the Atlantic Ocean, mark the eastern side of the 
lowland. Far away to the west, washed by the Pacific 
Ocean, are the plateaus and peaks of the great Western 
Highland, and between lie the central plains of the Missis- 
sippi, the St. Lawrence, the Saskatchewan, and the Macken- 
zie rivers. The plains reach from the Gulf of Mexico to 
Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. They slope so gently 
to the north and' to the south that we could ride from one 
end to the other and hardly know that we were going up or 
down hill. These plains form one of the largest valleys on 
earth. The mountains have great beds and veins of min- 
erals, and the valley has so much rich soil that it fills the 
meat and bread baskets of one tenth of the whole human 
race. 

Let us now fix our telescopes more directly upon our own 
country. There, lying in the middle of North America, is 
the United States. Those broad lands at the north are the 
Dominion of Canada. Their area is even larger than the 
United States, but much of Canada is so far north that it 
has very long, cold winters and is hardly habitable. Mexico 
and Central America, which take up the southern part of 
the continent, are not one third the size of our country; 
they are too hot or too dry to be favorable homes for our 






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Strait 



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Relief Map of North America. 



17 



i8 NORTH AiMERICA 

race. The United States is in the temperate zone, and it has 
the very best cUmate suited for civihzed man. 

And what a great country the United States is ! Think of 
it; all of that land between Mexico and the Dominion of 
Canada belongs to us. From east to west the territory is 
so wide that it takes about five days and nights to cross it 
on a fast railroad train, and it would require several days 
to go from Mexico through the Mississippi valley to the 
Canadian boundary. It is one of the largest countries of 
the world, and, including Alaska, it has almost as much land 
as all Europe. 

The United States is a treasure home of wonderful riches. 
The Appalachian Mountains have vast beds of coal, and 
the streams that flow down their slopes furnish electric 
power to thousands of factories. The Western High- 
land has enormous deposits of gold, silver, copper, and 
lead, and as we travel over it we shall see the miners taking 
the metal out of the rocks. There are wild animals in the 
mountains, and during our tour we shall have splendid 
hunting and fishing. 

Lying between the Appalachians and the Rockies is one 
of the most fertile valleys of the world. See those silvery 
lines which wind their way through it. They seem but 
threads at this distance. They are really great rivers, which 
show that the lands through which they flow are well 
watered and well drained. That is the Mississippi valley, 
and the band of silver running through it from north to 
south is the Mississippi, which, with the Missouri, is the 
longest river on earth. 

But what are those shining white patches west of the 
Appalachians? They look quite large as they lie there 
below us. They are the Great Lakes, some of the biggest 
bodies of fresh water on the earth. They are so big they 



GENERAL VIEW 



19 



seem almost like seas, and when we travel upon them we 
shall be often out of sight of land. See how far inland they 
extend from the ocean. With the St. Lawrence River they 
form a navigable waterway right to the heart of the richest 
lands of our continent. 

The United States has millions of farmhouses, and much 
of the land is swarming with people. As we look through 
our telescopes the surface seems to be peppered with dark 
gray dots, and covered with a network of black lines. 
Those dots are the cities and towns, and the lines are the 
railways. Our country has several times as many miles of 
railway as any other great nation. 



1?:^ - 




9 


H 




T^^&sJ 




^JJ|^?=' "*""■ ■ ■*« 





Railroad crossing Great Salt Lake. We shall make many journeys 

by rail. 

The United States is one of the busiest of all lands. Its 
people number about one sixteenth of the whole human 
race. They are engaged in all kinds of work, and we shall 
visit many of them in our travels. The land is so vast that 



20 NORTH AMERICA 

we hardly know where to begin to explore it. But there in 
the east is the capital, the city of Washington, and from that 
place we shall start. 

1. What is the title of this book? From the table of contents, 
make an outline of the travels we are going to take. In what continent 
shall we travel? In what countries? In what country shall we spend 
the most time? Why? 

2. Where does North America lie on the globe? In what zones? 
What ocean is at the west? The east? The north? What great 
continent is at the south? 

3. What part of the land surface of the earth has North America? 
Compare it in size with the other continents. (See page 491.) De- 
scribe its coastline and how it is fitted for trade. 

4. Bound the United States. What great bodies of water lie at 
the north? What gulf at the south? What river system drains the 
central plain? How does it compare in length with other great 
rivers of the world? (See page 495.) 

5. Where are the highlands? The great lowlands? What do we 
mean when we speak of the United States as a farm? As a store? 
As a factory? 

6. What is the population of the United States? Of the world? 

II. OUR NATIONAL CAPITAL 

IT seems strange that our national capital should be 
so far away from the center of the United States. 
You might think it ought to be in the Mississippi valley, 
somewhere near St. Louis, and about halfway between the 
Dominion of Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. It lies on 
the Potomac River, about a hundred miles from its mouth, 
and is thus only a short distance from the Atlantic coast. 
It is on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains, a 
long way from the Mississippi valley, and thousands of 
miles from the lofty plateaus of the West. The inhabitants 



OUR NATIONAL CAPITOL 21 

of Washington, Oregon, and California must travel five 
or six days if they would see the President; and, indeed, 
most of our people live many hundreds of miles from the 
national capital. 

Now, the capital of a country is where the chief officers 
of its government live, and the people who have business 
with the government must go there to see them. If it were 
not for the railroads, this would be quite inconvenient; 
and were it not for the telegraph and telephone it would be 
almost impossible to govern the United States from a city 
so situated. 

Why was the capital located so far from the center of 
the country? 

The story is connected with the growth of our nation. 
When we Americans, by the Revolutionary War, became 
independent of Great Britain, we were few in number, and 
most of the people lived east of the Appalachian Mountains. 
The lands to the westward were held by wild Indians, deer 
and bears roamed through the dense forests, we owned no 
land beyond the Mississippi River, and no one imagined 
that the United States would some day extend to the 
Pacific Ocean. The site of Washington city was then in 
almost the center of the inhabited country, so that when 
a location for the capital had to be chosen, this was thought 
the best place. Congress was then sitting in Philadelphia. 
It was before the days of railways, and President Washington 
rode in a carriage to the village of Georgetown, which Is 
now a part of the capital, and arranged with the farmers 
to sell their lands to the government. Soon after that the 
work of laying out the city began; but It was about ten 
years before the White House was finished and a building 
put up on Capitol Hill in which Congress could meet to 
make the laws. 

CARP. N. AMER. — 2 



22 NORTH AMERICA 

The first President to live in Washington was John 
Adams. He came alone to the capital, leaving his wife to 
follow him. While traveling through the forest from 
Baltimore to Washington, she lost her way, and rode for 
miles without seeing a human being. 

At that time a large part of Washington stood in the 
woods. There were stumps in some of the chief streets, 
and in wet weather Pennsylvania Avenue was almost a 
river of mud. The Congressmen and other officials did 
not like the new capital. They nicknamed it the "Wilder- 
ness City," the 'Xity of Miserable Huts," and the "City 
of Streets without Houses." It grew steadily, however, 
and is now one of the finest cities of the world. 

The plan of Washington is an excellent one. From the 
Capitol building as a center, the city is laid out in four 
sections, in each of which the streets cross one another at 
right angles, making them look as if four checkerboards 
had been joined together. Through the checkerboards, 
running diagonally in all directions, are wide avenues, and 
where these avenues cut across the streets there are circles 
or angular parks. These little parks have beds of flowers 
and beautiful trees. Many have statues of the great 
men of the past, and they form one of the chief beauties 
of the city. 

Why were these parks so placed? 

It was not so much for beauty as for defense. The man 
who planned Washington was a Frenchman, Major Pierre 
I'Enfant (pyar laN-faN) \ who had left Paris about the time 
of the French Revolution, when the mobs were destroying 
the government. In laying out our capital he had the 
bloody scenes of Paris in mind, and he designed a city 
which might be easily defended. Each of the circles con- 

^ For key to diacritic marks see first page of index. 



OUR NATIONAL CAPITOL 23 

trols several streets, and a machine gun placed in its center 
could be whirled around and thus fire shot down a half 
dozen different streets. 

We shall take an automobile for our tour through Wash- 
ington. The city has more than two hundred miles of 
streets as smooth as a floor. They are paved with asphalt, 
and are lined with shade trees whose branches often meet 
overhead, forming long arbors of magnificent maples and 
elms. The city seems to be in a forest, with lines of houses 
rising out of the trees. Along many of the residence streets 
are wide strips of green lawn which extend from the side- 
walks up to the walls of the houses. 

We devote our first day to a run about the city. Some 
of the great government buildings are far apart; for ex- 
ample, it is a full mile from the White House to the Capitol, 
which is situated on a hill to the eastward. We drive to- 
ward it up Pennsylvania Avenue, a wide thoroughfare 
running diagonally across the city from southeast to north- 
west, and passing the State, War, and Navy Building, the 
Treasury, the Post Ofhce Department, and many other 
important structures. We learn that this street is histor- 
ically one of the most famous in the country. It is the 
route taken by each President of the United States when 
he rides to the White House from the Capitol on his 
inauguration day. It was here also that our armies pa- 
raded after the Civil War and the World War. 

Farther on we come to the Library of Congress, It covers 
nearly four acres, and its golden dome, as big as the largest 
circus tent, can be seen shining in the sunlight for many 
miles about Washington. Its interior is of marble beauti- 
fully carved and decorated with paintings. The library has 
the largest collection of books in the Western Hemisphere, 
and it is surpassed in size only by the library of the British 



24 NORTH AMERICA 

Museum in London and the National Library of France 
in Paris. It has about three milUon books and pamphlets, 
and is of great value to people engaged in library and 
research work of various kinds. 

Leaving the Library, we ride to the Navy Yard, on a 
branch of the Potomac. We visit the foundries where the 
great guns for our battleships are made, and then make 
our way back to the White House through the Mall. This 
park is filled with beautiful trees, under the branches of 
which we ride, passing the white stone building of the 
National Museum, and then on among the beautiful flower 
beds behind which stand the offices and laboratories of the 
Agricultural Department. 

A little farther on, we leave the trees and enter the 
monument grounds, where, on a green mound near the 
banks of the Potomac River, stands the high stone shaft 
built in memory of George Washington. The monument is 
visible from any part of the city or country for many miles 
around. It seems to grow as we come toward it. It gets 
bigger and bigger, and as we walk up the little hill on 
which it stands, put our chins against its side, and look 
upward, it appears to be a great marble wall built right up 
into the sky. 

The monument is made of blocks of white marble so 
closely fitted that we can hardly see where one stone joins 
another. It is fifty-five feet square at the base, and its 
slope is so gradual that, if one could slice off the top where 
the shaft begins to verge to a point, a house with four 
large rooms on each floor could be built there and its outer 
walls would not be outside the monument. There is an 
elevator inside this huge structure, and as we ride to the 
top our guide tells us it is more than five hundred and 
fifty-five feet in height. 




Reading room in the Library of Congress. It is open to the 
public and has space for looo readers. 



25 



26 NORTH AMERICA 

As we stand here high up over the city and look toward 
the west, we are facing the beautiful white marble memorial 
building erected in honor of Abraham Lincoln. It is 
nearly a mile away on another mound in Potomac Park. 
Looking to the east, we see the Capitol. It is in a direct 
line with the Lincoln Memorial and also with Arlington 
Cemetery in Virginia, which we can see on the other side 
of the Potomac River. In that cemetery are the graves 
of thousands of soldiers who died in the Civil War. 

Turning from the west to the north, we see some of 
our chief government buildings. Almost at our feet lie 
the huge concrete structures built during the World War 
for the Army and Navy departments, and farther north, 
rising out of the houses, is the white stone building of the 
Department of the Interior, so large that it has two miles 
of corridors inside its walls. A little farther east is the 
State Department building, another huge structure. 
Almost adjoining it is the White House, where our Presi- 
dent lives, and across the way is the somber gray tomb- 
like Treasury. (See Frontispiece.) 

We look at our watches and find that it is too late to do 
much more to-day. It is now almost half past four o'clock, 
and the government offices are ready to close. We drop 
down to the ground and walk across the park to the Treas- 
ury, where a great crowd of men and women are pour- 
ing forth from the doors. At the same time the War and 
Navy and other departments are dismissing their employees, 
and the streets are swarming with men and women clerks 
on their way home from work. 

We find that it takes several hundred thousand people 
to do the public work of the United States, and that more 
than one hundred thousand are required to keep the books 
and carry on the national business at Washington. 




Gigantic statue of Lincoln in the central hall of the Lincoln Memo- 
rial. It is 30 feet high and contains 175 tons of white marble. It 
is the work of Daniel C. French. 

27 



28 NORTH AMERICA 

III. A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT AND TO THE 
HALLS OF CONGRESS 

OUR first trip to-day shall be to the White House. 
We are to meet the President, and after that we 
shall go to the Capitol and see something of Congress and 
the Supreme Court. 

Our government is composed of three branches: the 
legislative branch, or Congress, which makes the laws; 
the executive branch, consisting of the President and his 
officials, which carries out the laws; and the judicial branch, 
or the courts, which in cases of dispute tells what the 
laws mean. The President might be called, in fact, the 
business manager of the United States. He is elected 
for a term of four years. 

We stroll up past the Treasury, and soon come to the 
White House grounds. The gates are wide open, and 
we walk undisturbed along the roadway which leads to 
the lofty porch before the front door. 

Here we stop to take a good look at the White House. 
It is made of sandstone, but is so painted that it seems 
hke a marble palace shining out of the big trees which 
surround it. A lawn of velvety green lies between it and 
the sidewalk, and on our way in we pass a fountain which 
sends thousands of silvery drops high into the air. The 
doors before us are of plate glass set in brass frames. A 
little farther in are other doors of polished mahogany 
which have brass knobs decorated with stars. 

Now the doors have opened and a messenger invites 
us to enter. We take a few steps and are in the Execu- 
tive Mansion, the home of the President of the United 
States, where all our Presidents have lived since the year 
1800. 



A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT 



29 



The Executive Mansion was the first public building 
erected at our national capital. George Washington 
selected the site, and was present when the cornerstone 
was laid. He lived to see the building completed, and it 
is said he walked through it only a few days before his 
death in 1799. His successor, John Adams, was the first 
President to occupy the Executive Mansion. During 
the War of 181 2 the British captured the city and set fire 
to the building. Much of the woodwork was burned, and 
the stone walls were blackened. When this building was 
repaired, the walls were painted white, and from that came 
the name ''the White House," by which it is commonly 
known to this day, although its usual official title is the 
Executive Mansion. 

The first room we see shows us the size of the building. 
It is called the Vestibule, but is four times as big as the 
ordinary parlor. It has a high ceiling upheld at the back 
by white pillars, beyond which is the corridor leading to 
the reception rooms. 

Turning to the left through this hall, we enter the East 
Room, which takes up the whole east side of the White 
House. Its ceiling is about twice as high as that of our 
schoolroom. The floor is of wood, beautifully finished, 
and so brightly polished that it shines like a mirror. 

The walls of the East Room are decorated in white, 
and from its ceiling hang chandeliers, upon which are 
thousands of pieces of cut glass. In the walls are set four 
huge mirrors, each as big as the largest store window, in 
which, when the chandeliers are lighted for the President's 
evening parties, the glass pendants shine like diamonds. 
At such times there are often great banks of cut flowers 
below the mirrors, and flowers and ferns are wreathed 
throughout every part of the room. There are palm trees 




30 



A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT 31 

and tropical plants in the corners and in the windows; the 
parlor is filled with gayly dressed people, and the whole 
makes one think of fairyland. 

At the end of the East Room we turn to the right and 
enter the Green Room, a parlor furnished in green and 
silver, and from there go into the famous Blue Room, 
wheYe the President stands with his wife and shakes hands 
with those who come to his evening receptions. The Blue 
Room is oval in shape. Its furniture is of wood decorated 
with gold leaf, and cushioned with blue satin fine enough 
for the dress of a queen. 

Farther on is the Red Room, the walls of which are 
decorated with red silk velvet, and beyond it is the state 
dining room, where the President gives his dinners to the 
highest officials and other people of note. This room is 
paneled with oak, beautifully carved. The mounted heads 
of moose, buffalo, and bear, and others of the big game of 
America, look down upon us, and we are told that the 
animals which once wore the heads were shot by Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

We are in the state dining room when a messenger tells 
us the President has consented to see us. His offices are 
at the western end of the grounds, connected by a passage- 
way with the main body of the White House. We go with 
the messenger, and a moment later are standing in the 
presence of the Chief Executive of the United States. 
He rises and offers his hand, and we are somewhat surprised 
to find that he is not very different from many men we 
have known. He treats us kindly, and chats with us for 
a few moments about himself and his work. 

The President of the United States has a great deal to 
do. He has a great number of officials under him, both 
here and in all parts of the country; and he is kept busy 




32 



THE HALLS OF CONGRESS S3 

from daylight to dark directing the affairs of the govern- 
ment. As we wait we hear the dick, cHck, cHck of tele- 
graph instruments, and are told that operators are kept 
in the White House to send out the President's orders to 
all parts of the United States, while across the Potomac 
are three tall steel towers from- which his messages are 
sometimes sent by wireless to all parts of the world. 

Later on we are shown the Cabinet Room, where, once a 
week or oftener, the President advises wdth the men who 
have charge of the different departments of the govern- 
ment. Here he counsels with them as to their business, 
and as to other affairs affecting the welfare of the nation. 

We have now left the White House, and have made 
our way up Pennsylvania Avenue to the National Capitol. 
WTiat a beautiful building it is! As we look up at it from 
the edge of the park which surrounds it, it appears like 
a huge marble palace with an enormous white dome float- 
ing, as it were, in the blue sky. As we come nearer, the 
building seems to grow larger and larger, and we believe 
the guide when he tells us it is not only one of the most 
beautiful buildings, but also the largest of its kind ever 
erected. It covers three and one half acres of ground, and 
it has so many rooms that there are parts of it in which 
we might get lost and wander about a long time without 
finding our way out. 

Entering the Capitol, we pass through halls swarming 
with people. It' is a city in itself, the chief business of 
which is to make laws for our nation. The two great 
lawmaking bodies are at opposite ends of the building. 
In the south wing is the hall of the House of Representa- 
tives, and in the north the chamber of the United States 
Senate, while a wide corridor runs through the building 
from the one to the other. 



34 NORTH AMERICA 

We enter at the House side, and, pushing our way 
through the crowd, soon find ourselves in the gallery of 
the House of Representatives. The floor below us is so 
large that it could be divided into twenty-eight parlors, 
each sixteen feet square. The galleries are high above it, 
near the ceihng; they slope down to the edge of the cen- 
tral pit where the representatives sit. 

As we sit in the galleries, we can look down into this pit 
upon our congressmen at work. Each representative has 
his own chair, the seats running around the room in the 
shape of a half-moon about a high platform at one side of 
the hall. Upon the platform is a marble pulpit, with the 
American eagle above it. That pulpit is the Speaker's 
desk, and the man who sits behind it is the Speaker of the 
House, who keeps order and says what shall be done. He 
has an ivory-headed mallet with which he pounds on his 
desk to make members stop their conversation during the 
speaking. 

But who are those boys with the bright silver badges 
about the size of a half dollar on their coats, running to and 
fro with letters and papers in their hands? They are not 
much older than we are, but they seem busier than any one 
else in the hall. Those are the pages, who run errands for 
the congressmen. When a congressman wants a page, he 
claps his hands, and the boy runs to him from his seat on 
the steps of the Speaker's platform to get his orders. Other 
pages do the same work in the Senate. 

We ask as to the duties of the representatives in Con- 
gress. In connection with the senators, they make the 
laws to govern our country. A proposed act becomes a 
law when it has been voted for by a majority of the Senate 
and by a majority of the House of Representatives, and 
has been approved by the President. 



36 NORTH AMERICA 

And how do these men become Congressmen? 

The people of the United States choose the senators and 
representatives. The states are divided into congressional 
districts, each containing about the same number of people. 
Every district has the right to one representative in Con- 
gress, and its voters choose who he shall be. He is supposed 
to act for them. The senators represent the states rather 
than individual districts. There are only two from each 
state, Nevada having just as many as New York, which 
has more than one hundred times as many people. 

The representatives are elected for only two years, while 
the senators are chosen for six. The representatives elect 
their own Speaker or presiding officer, but the Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States is the presiding officer of the 
Senate. 

It is in the halls of Congress that legislation is enacted, 
and that the speaking upon public measures is done. Most 
of the work of the Congressmen, however, is carried on 
outside the Capitol in the two great marble structures 
near by, known as the Senate Office Building and the House 
Office Building. Here the senators and representatives 
have their offices, where they write letters and prepare the 
bills and other measures which are discussed in the Capitol. 
About fifty thousand bills are introduced into Congress in 
one year, and those which become laws must be carefully 
worded, as the use of a wrong word or even the misplacing 
of a comma or period might affect appropriations calling 
for a million dollars or more. The two office buildings and 
the Capitol together contain about fourteen hundred 
rooms and forty elevators. 

Let us now leave Congress and take a look at the Supreme 
Court. We push our way through the crowd about the 
doors of the House of Representatives, and pass on into a 



THE SUPREME COURT 37 

hall filled with the marble statues of some of the great 
men of our history. 

We go through the rotunda, or circular room under the 
dome, and then on into the passageway which leads to the 
Senate Chamber. 

Here we are stopped by a messenger while a curious pro- 
cession crosses the hall. It consists of nine men in long 
gowns of black silk. How dignified they seem, and how 
quiet every one is as they go by! Those are the Supreme 
Court justices. They are the heads of the judicial branch 
of our government, and are on their way to the courtroom. 

Now they have passed, and we can go into the same 
room, though by another door. We enter just in time to 
hear the marshal of the court cry out: — 

''Oyez! OyezI Oyez! All persons having business 
before the honorable Supreme Court are admonished to 
draw near and give their attention. The court is now 
sitting. God save the United States aiid this honorable 
court!" 

He sings this out in loud tones, running the words to- 
gether into one sentence, and saying them all in a breath. 

As he does so the justices are seating themselves behind 
a long mahogany table on a platform at the back of the 
room, their armchairs resting against columns of black- 
and-gray marble. The chief justice is in the center. His 
chair is under a purple canopy, out of which a golden 
American eagle looks down with keen eyes, holding in its 
beak a strip of metal upon which are painted the words, 
''In God we trust." 

The lawyers and others who have business before the 
Supreme Court are seated in a little inclosure below the 
bench. Back of them, against the wall, are the visitors, 
including ourselves. 

CARP. N. AMER.— 3 



38 NORTH AMERICA 

It is usually quiet in the Supreme Court, for this is a 
very dignified branch of our government. It is so quiet 
to-day, in fact, that we feel like going to sleep after our 
hard day's sightseeing. We are frightened as we catch 
ourselves nodding; and we rise, slip gently out, and make 
our way back to our hotel. 

1. Locate our national capital and tell why it was placed where 
it is. 

2. How far do you live from Washington? How could you go 
there by train? On what railways? How long would you be on the 
way? At a mile a minute by airplane, how long would it take? Over 
what ranges of mountains, if any, would you pass? Through what 
states? Through what large cities? Bring a railway map to the class 
and show the route. 

3. Have you ever visited Washington before this? Do you know 
any one who has? 

4. Describe your automobile trip through the capital. How was 
the city first planned, and why? What two great monuments do 
we see? Tell the story of each of the Presidents to whom they are 
erected. 

5. What are the three principal branches of the government? What 
is the chief duty of each? 

6. What is the White House? Describe your call upon the Pres- 
ident. What is the Cabinet? 

7. Describe your trip through the Capitol. What is the difference 
between the House and the Senate? Who are your senators? Who is 
your congressman? Tell about our visit to the Supreme Court. 

IV. DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT- 
STATE, NAVY, AND WAR 

'"T^HIS morning we shall visit some of the department 

JL buildings to find out, if we can, how the important 

business of our government is carried on. We shall pay our 

first call upon the Secretary of State. He is considered the 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT 39 

most important member of the Cabinet, and if a time 
should ever come when the President and Vice President 
should both die, the Secretary of State would become 
President. 

The State Department has charge of all the business 
between the United States and foreign nations. Each of 
the important foreign countries has its representative at 
Washington, and our President appoints ambassadors and 
ministers to represent the United States at foreign capitals, 
and consuls or business agents in every great trading 
center abroad. The Secretary of State confers with the 
foreign ministers, and he advises with the President as to 
treaties and all foreign business. He also issues passports 
to Americans who wish to travel through other lands on 
business or pleasure. Each passport bears a photograph 
and description of its owner. It shows that he is an Amer- 
ican citizen, and asks that the people of the countries 
through which he wishes to go treat him as such and allow 
him to pass safely and freely. 

The Secretary of State has charge of our treaties or 
contracts with all foreign nations, and also of other impor- 
tant state papers. The original of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and the little desk upon which Thomas Jeffer- 
son wrote it, were kept here for many years, but were then 
removed to the Library of Congress. 

Leaving the State Department, we stroll down past the 
Cor'coran Gallery of Art, the building devoted to the 
American Red Cross, and the white marble palace of the 
Pan-American Union, to the offices of the Navy Depart- 
ment. We know that we are in the Department of the 
Navy as soon as we enter the building. There are models 
of war vessels in the halls, and in some of the rooms we see 
photographs of dreadnaughts, cruisers, torpedo boats, sub- 



40 NORTH AMERICA 

marine chasers, and all the other kinds of warships in our 
navy. 

Here, for instance, is a model of one of our great battle- 
ships. It is so small that it could be put in one side of a 
schoolroom, but the ship it represents is as long as a city 
block and so wide that it would fill an ordinary street. The 
ship cost more than twenty milHon dollars and required 




The Tennessee, one of the navy's largest battleships. 

more than two years to build. It is made altogether of 
steel and its outside is covered with steel plates several 
inches thick, in order that the shells fired at it may not go 
through. 

The guns of the battleship are of many kinds. It has 
some so big that it takes two bushels of powder to fire one 
of them and so powerful that they will shoot shells of solid 
steel twelve miles or more. These shells are as tall as we 
are and weigh more than seven full grown men. The ship 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT 41 

has anti-aircraft guns to defend itself from the war planes 
of an enemy, and guns which fire depth bombs to destroy 
submarines as they he in wait far down under the surface 
of the water. These things show us how terrible war is 
and how all nations should strive together for peace in 
the world. 

We feel this the more during our visit to the War Depart- 
ment, which has to do with the army. Uncle Sam must 
have his soldiers upon land to defend us, as well as his ships 
upon the sea; and in time of war it has been necessary to 
call out milhons of the young men of our nation to fight for 
our rights and for the good and peace of the world. In the 
World War we had at one time nearly four million men 
under arms, over half of whom were in France, having 
been safely transported there under the protection of the 
American and British navies. In times of peace less than 
two hundred thousand troops are required to protect our 
country with its millions of people. 



V. DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENTS- 
TREASURY 

GOING back to Pennsylvania Avenue, we visit the 
Treasury Department, which has to do wijth the 
money of the government. Enormous sums are needed to 
pay the expenses of the army and nav}^, to carry the mails, 
and to perform other kinds of work done by the national 
government. Nearly all of this money comes from, taxes 
of various kinds. It is the business of the Treasury D^^- 
paijtment to collect this money and to see that none of it 
goes out except as the laws, of Congress ,direct. .The 



42 



NORTH AMERICA 



Treasury Department has charge also of our national 
banks and of our public debt, and it Is the guardian of 
the financial resources of the United States. 

Much money collected from taxes and other sources is 
sent to the Treasury Department to be kept until needed, 
and there is usually an enormous amount on hand. Our 
guide takes us down into the vaults and shows us how 




Vault in Treasury Department filled with sacks of silver dollars. 

hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of gold and silver 
are stored there, being guarded day and night by watch- 
men. In other rooms we are shown great piles of bonds. 
We see also bundles of new bank notes stacked up, filling 
the vaults from the floor to the ceiling, and watch the 
hundreds of clerks who are handling old and new paper 
money. 

The Treasury Department coins or prints all the money 
of the United States. The gold and silver and copper coins 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT 43 

are made at the mints in Philadelphia, Denver, and San 
Francisco, but the currency, as our paper money is called, 
is manufactured in Washington. 

The money factory is known as the Bureau of Engraving 
and Printing. It is a large stone and brick building which 
lies on the banks of the Potomac just beyond the Wash- 
ington Monument, and we go there to see it. We hear the 
rattle of machinery as we enter the door, and the guide 
takes us through room after room where, behind iron 
latticework, scores of men and women are busy printing 
bank notes and bonds. The women wear aprons over 
their dresses, and the men have their shirt sleeves rolled 
up to their shoulders. The printing is dirty work, and 
every one in the press room is spotted with ink. In another 
place we see the engravers, who with sharp tools are 
cutting in steel plates the fine pictures printed upon our 
bank notes, and in other rooms we watch the wonderful 
engraving machines which do the scroll work. 

How carefully everything is guarded! Watchmen are 
stationed in each room during the day, and there are 
steel vaults where the plates for making the bank notes 
are stored away at night. Not one of the employees can 
leave the building until every note on hand has been 
counted and every sheet of paper and every printing plate 
is known to be in its place. This is to prevent counter- 
feiters from stealing the paper and plates and printing 
money for themselves. 

As we go through this building we get some idea of the 
wealth of our nation by seeing the great volume of money 
required for its business. Bank notes representing millions 
of dollars are printed here in one day. There are scores 
of women who do nothing else but count bank notes. How 
fast they work! Their fingers go like lightning. They 



44 NORTH AMERICA 

do not move their lips, but they are counting the bills at 
the rate of a hundred a minute. 

After being counted, the notes are tied up in packages 
and put into a great steel box upon wheels and taken in a 
well-guarded motor car to the Treasury Department, from 
which they are shipped to all parts of the country. Uncle 
Sam never sends out a bank note a second time. He is 
like the old peddler in the story of Aladdin, always ready 
to exchange new goods for old ones. 

But what becomes of the old bank notes? 

Come with me and we shall see. All of the old money is 
destroyed. As soon as the bank notes come into the 
Treasury they are cut in halves and taken to the base- 
ment of this money factory. There the cut notes are put 
into a big round iron pot, in which they are ground up by 
machinery and cooked and steamed until they become a 
pulpy mixture, which looks like oatmeal porridge or mush. 
Notes that once represented several million dollars often 
form the grist for one grinding. Think of a pot of mush 
made of two million dollars in bank notes! Would you not 
like a good bowl of the meal before it is cut up and thrown 
into the kettle? Yes, but alas, there is no chance for us to 
get at any of this money. The government grinds it up in 
order to prevent any one from stealing the notes and using 
them as money again. 

It is in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing that our 
postage stamps are made. The process is much the same 
as that of making bank notes, and the stamps are just as 
carefully watched that none may be lost. After printing 
they are gummed by machinery. Then the little holes 
are cut around them with sharp wheels on somewhat the 
same principle as dough is cut in making animal crackers. 
The government sells more than eleven billion postage 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT 



45 




Perforating sheets of postage stamps. The stamps are printed and 
gummed by other machines. 

stamps every year, or more than a thousand for every 
man, woman, and child in our country. The stamps 
range in value from one cent to five dollars. A single 
two cent stamp is all that is needed to carry the story 
of what we have seen this morning to any home in our 
country. 

1. If both the President and the Vice President should die, who 
would become President? 

2. What is the business of the State Department? 



46 NORTH AMERICA 

3. If you were going abroad how would you show that you are an 
American citizen? 

4. What is a treaty? Why is it necessary to have treaties? 

5. What was the Declaration of Independence? Who wrote it? 

6. Why does the government of the United States need an army 
and navy? Do you know any one who has served as a soldier or a 
sailor? Where did he serve? What did he do? 

7. What is the business of the Treasury Department? Why do 
we have to pay taxes? 

8. Where is our paper money printed? Read the wording on the 
face of paper money. Where are postage stamps printed? 



VI. DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT — 
JUSTICE, POST OFFICE, COMMERCE, LABOR 

LEAVING the Treasury, we visit the Department of 
Justice. Here we call upon the Attorney- General, 
who is the chief law officer of our government. It is im- 
portant that our public affairs should be conducted accord- 
ing to law, and the Attorney- General, who is a trained 
lawyer, gives his advice to the President or to the heads of 
the other executive departments as to any questions of 
law that come up. He appears before the Supreme Court 
and Court of Claims in important government cases, and 
has the superintendence and direction of the United States 
attorneys and marshals in different parts of the Union. 

Our next call is upon the Postmaster- General. We find 
him in the gray stone building on Pennsylvania Avenue, 
which is devoted to the Post Office Department, but his 
business extends to every nook and comer of the United 
States, and to every city and tov^m of the world. He has 
under him hundreds of thousands of clerks, postmasters, 
and rural delivery agents. The mail goes by railway, 



THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT 47 

steamship, and motor car, and on horseback, and on foot. 
Some of the fast mail is sent by airplane, saving thereby 
many hours in the delivery of letters. 

The government does a great express business through 
the post office, carrying billions of parcel post packages 
every twelve months, and it acts as a banker, sending more 
than one billion dollars' worth of money orders through the 
mails of the United States alone in one year. It sends also 
money to foreign countries, and during the World War 
orders for over thirty million dollars were issued and these 
moneys were paid to the persons who received them in the 
lands overseas. We have also postal savings banks, where 
hundreds of thousands of people deposit their money, re- 
ceiving interest thereon as long as it is left in the bank. 

As we go through the Post Office Department, we see the 
clerks working in the offices devoted to the various branches 
of the service. In the foreign mail division we learn that 
all the nations of the world have joined together as to their 
mails, and that for two cents one can have a postcard car- 
ried to almost any place upon earth, and for five cents a 
sealed letter to the most distant part of the globe. 

In another building we visit the dead letter office. When 
a letter is so badly addressed that the postman cannot read 
the writing, or when he is unable to find the person to whom 
it is directed, it is returned to the sender, if his address is 
given on the envelope. But if the letter can neither be 
delivered nor returned, it is called dead. It is then for- 
warded to the dead letter office, where it is opened by the 
clerks and if possible sent back to the writer. Millions of 
dead letters are received here every year. The signatures 
to many of them are so poorly written that they cannot be 
made out, and in many other cases the writer's address is 
not given. Some of the letters contain money, and we are 



THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 49 

told that notes and drafts worth more than a miUion dol- 
lars are mailed annually in envelopes so badly addressed 
that they come to the dead letter office. In some cases the 
writing cannot be read and both money and letters are lost 
to their owners. From this we see how important it is to 
learn to write well, and also to put one's address on both 
letters and envelopes. 

Leaving the Post Office Department, we take the electric 
cars for the Department of Commerce. This is one of the 
most important of all the branches of our government 
business. It has to do with the United States as both store 
and factor}^-. Its business is to foster and develop our 
foreign and domestic commerce, as well as our manufactur- 
ing, shipping, and fishing industries. It makes charts of 
the coasts and coastal waters of the United States, showing 
where it is safe for vessels to go, and keeps lighthouses 
along the rocky shores for the protection of our steamers. 
It sees that all steamers are fitted out with life preservers ; 
and that they have wireless telegraph equipment, so that 
they can call for aid in case of a wreck. 

The Bureau of Fisheries helps to protect our great fishing 
industry, plants new fishing grounds, and keeps up the old 
ones. The Bureau distributes more than three billion eggs 
and fish every year, of which more than two and a half 
billions are tiny fish known as fry. The waters of the United 
States give us more than sixty million dollars' worth of food 
every year, including the oysters and clams we find so de- 
licious. 

The Secretary of Commerce has charge of the Census 
Bureau, whose business it is to count our people every ten 
years so that we can know just how many citizens we have 
and what they are doing. He tells us that we are rapidty 
increasing in population, and that we now number about 



50 NORTH AMERICA 

one sixteenth of the whole human race. He says that we 
have the greatest commerce of all nations, and that our 
country and people are steadily growing in manufactures 
and wealth. 

It is not far from the Department of Commerce to the 
Department of Labor, where we meet the men charged 
with the duty of promoting and developing the welfare of 
the wage earners of the United States. Nearly all of our 
people do work of one kind or another, and the Secretary 
of Labor aids in seeing that they are fairly treated by their 
employers. He also collects information regarding their 
wages, and hours of work in this and other countries. He 
has charge of administering the laws by which foreigners 
may come into this country, and of showing them how to 
become American citizens. 

During our stay in this department we visit the Chil- 
dren's Bureau. This bureau investigates and reports upon 
all matters relating to the welfare of children among all 
classes of our people. It helps to see that no child is em- 
ployed in a dangerous occupation, and that he is not put 
to work in factories before he is fourteen years of age, and 
in mines or quarries until he is sixteen or over. 

VII. DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT- 
INTERIOR AND AGRICULTURE 

THIS is our last day in Washington, and there is so 
much more to see that we hardly know where to 
begin. We shall devote the time to learning something 
about the great resources of the country we are to explore. 
We can do this best by visiting the Department of the 
Interior and the Department of Agriculture. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 51 

The Department of the Interior has charge of all patents, 
pensions, and public lands. It takes care of our national 
parks, and of the reclaiming of our waste lands in deserts 
and swamps. Belonging to it also are the Geological 
Survey, some of whose employees are engaged in making 
maps of the country, and the Bureau of Mines, which looks 
after our vast mineral wealth. 

The Interior Department has charge of educational 
.'matters, and of the Indians, and of many things in Alaska, 
including the reindeer. In the educational bureau we are 
told that there are more than sixteen million children in 
daily attendance in our public schools, and that one million 
children are now enlisted in the school garden army. From 
the school gardens of the United States now comes annually 
more than ten million dollars' worth of food. 

In the Geological Survey we see maps of the counties 
in which we live, showing all the hills and hollows, and in 
the Bureau of Mines we learn much about the riches of 
our country buried in the rocky heart of the earth. The 
United States has more of many minerals than any other 
country. This is true of copper and zinc, and of coal, 
petroleum, and iron. We have coal in thirty different 
states, and it is said there is enough to keep us going for 
seven thousand years if we do not increase the amount 
we are using. We are producing more than half of the 
petroleum that comes from the earth, and we have so 
much water power that if it were all put to work it could 
operate our factories, run our railways, and light and heat 
all of our homes. 

The Department of Agriculture is, if anything, even more 
interesting than the Department of the Interior. The 
United States has more than six million farms, which 
produce enough grain in one year to give more than two 



52 



NORTH AMERICA 



hundred bushels to every family in our whole country. 
In some years we produce one fourth of all the wheat raised 
on the earth. Moreover, our farm animals are so many 
that if we could round them up and divide them evenly 
among us, every family would have three hogs, three 
cattle, two sheep, and a horse. In addition there are tens 
of millions of turkeys, chickens, and ducks. When we 
think of all this we wonder how an American stomach 
can ever go empty. 

The Department of Agriculture is always studying the 
needs of our farmers and trying to help them make their 
lands produce more. It has men traveling over the world 
to find new seeds and plants, and it suggests new crops and 
new methods of farming. It is doing a great work, in teach- 




In the laboratories of the Department of Agriculture, scientists 
experiment with plants from aU over the world. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 53 

ing the children how to raise certain crops and make money 
out of rearing farm animals. For this purpose it has es- 
tablished corn clubs and cotton clubs and canning associa- 
tions in thousands of farming localities. There are clubs 
of boys and girls who raise poultry and eggs, and hundreds 
of boys' clubs whose members rear sheep, cattle, and pigs 
according to the rules sent out by this department. In a 
great many cases the boys of these clubs have more success 
with their animals than their fathers who farm in the 
old-fashioned way. We shall visit some of these clubs in 
our travels. 

At the suggestion of the Secretary of Agriculture, we 
visit the Weather Bureau, which has charge of the daily 
reports as to whether it will rain or snow or be clear in each 
part of the country. The Bureau employs all the time 
about eight hundred expert weather observers who are 
located at several hundred stations throughout the United 
States and the West Indies. They telegraph daily reports 
as to the weather conditions of their localities. From these 
the Bureau can judge which way the winds and storms are 
going, and the possibilities of rain and snow. The Bureau 
receives two sets of weather telegrams from its observers 
every day, one at 8 a. m. and one at 8 p. m., and it is from 
these that it makes the weather charts and forecasts for 
the next thirty-six hours. The forecasts are telegraphed 
all over the country, and also to vessels about to sail over 
the oceans. They are published in the weather maps and 
in the newspapers, and are of very great value to many 
classes of people. The warnings for a single hurricane have 
kept in port vessels containing cargoes valued at more 
than thirty milHon dollars, and the warnings of frost during 
one cold wave saved oranges and lemons worth fourteen 
million dollars. 

CARP. N. AMER.— 4 



54 NORTH AMERICA 

After watching the men making weather maps, we go 
to the Forestry Service, which has charge of our national 
woodlands and timber supply. The officials tell us that 
a third of the United States was once so covered with 
trees that one could ride for days and months and not 
get out of the woods. But the people wanted the land 
for farms, and they destroyed the trees in every possible 
way. Many were burned to get rid of them, and those 
used for lumber were so carelessly cut that much of the 
best wood was lost. We have still a great deal of forest, 
but the trees are being cut down so rapidly that the time 
may yet come when we shall not have enough lumber for 
our houses. The officers tell us that we are felling so 
many trees every year that if sawed into boards they 
would make a plank road a foot thick, wide enough for 
two big motor cars abreast, and so long that it would reach 
as far as from the earth to the moon. They give us maps 
of our chief forest regions, and we decide to visit them 
during our travels. 

1. What officer is at the head of the Department of Justice? 

2. What is the business of the Post Office Department? Who is 
the representative of this department in your town? 

3. What is the rural delivery service? The parcel post service? 
What are dead letters, and how are they cared for? Why? 

4. Why do we need a Department of Commerce? Of Labor? 
Mention some of the duties of each. 

5. Describe the work of the Department of the Interior. 

6. What department helps the farmers? How many farms have 
we in the United States? What do you know of the boys' corn 
clubs? Of the girls' canning clubs? Of the pig clubs? Why are they 
formed? 

7. Why do we need a Weather Bureau? Get a weather report and 
tell what it means. 

8. Why do we need a Forestry Service? What is the duty of this 
service? 



BALTIMORE AND THE OYSTER BEDS 55 

VIII. BALTIMORE AND THE OYSTER BEDS 

WE leave Washington this morning on our way to New 
York. The Baltimore and Ohio and the Pennsyl- 
vania railways, which run between the two cities, have fast 
express trains that make the journey in a little more than 
five hours. But as the country is thickly populated, and 
we shall pass through several large cities, we shall stop off 
on the way. 

We take automobiles to the Union Station, which is not 
far from the Capitol. It is a white granite building cover- 
ing almost six acres, surrounded by beautiful grounds with 
a marble statue of Columbus before the entrance. We 
buy our tickets and are soon on the train. We reach Balti- 
more in less than an hour. 

Baltimore is one of the chief ports of the Atlantic sea- 
board. It lies on the Patapsco River near the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay. The largest ocean steamers can come in from 
the Atlantic Ocean through Hampton Roads and sail up the 
bay one hundred and fifty miles and land at its wharves; 
and several trunk lines of railway connect it with all parts 
of the United States. One of these, the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, uses the gateway of the Potomac valley through 
the Appalachian Highland to the west. Baltimore is near 
the coal fields of Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania,! 
so that it has cheap fuel for manufacturing. It has steel^ 
plants and shipbuilding works, and it refines a great deal 
of copper. It makes more fertilizer, straw goods, and cotton 
duck than any other of our cities, and as it is in a rich 
gardening and fruit-growing region, its canneries put up 
great quantities of fruit and vegetables which are shipped 
to all parts of the Union. 

We go first to the harbor, which covers more than six 



NORTH AMERICA 

hundred acres. There are large ocean steamers unloading 
bananas, pineapples, coconuts, and sugar from the West 
Indies, and some taking on corn, wheat, flour, cotton, 
tobacco, copper, and coal for shipment abroad. The goods 
are put on and taken off the ships with hydraulic cranes, 
and the wheat from the great elevators is poured down 
through pipes into the vessels. 

While visiting the harbor we hire a boat and get a view of 
Fort McHenry, whose bombardment by the British in 1814 
caused Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-spangled 
Banner." You may remember the story. It was during 
the War of 181 2, when the British fleet had attacked Fort 
McHenry, and Mr. Key, having gone out to one of the 
ships under a flag of truce, was detained there during the 
fighting. As he watched the firing throughout the night, 
his heart was sick with anxiety; for he could not tell whether 
the fort had fallen until the day broke. He then saw that 
the flag was still flying, and on the inspiration of the mo- 
ment wrote the verses of the song on the back of a letter 
before leaving the ship. As we look at the place, the words 
Gome to us and we sing : — 

"Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twihght's last gleaming? 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? 
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: 
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" 

It was in Baltimore that Randall wrote his song, ''Mary- 
land, My Maryland," and here Edgar Allan Poe began his 
career as a writer of poems and stories. 

When Washington was laid out, Baltimore had already 




Scene in the heart of Baltimore, showing Mount Vernon Place and the 

Washington Monument. 

57 



58 NORTH AMERICA 

eight thousand people, and it was considered one of the 
chief towns of the country. It now contains about three 
quarters of a million, and is our largest city south of Phila- 
delphia. We visit Druid Hill Park, and the Johns Hopkins 
University, and then we take a look at the monument which 
Baltimore has put up in honor of George Washington. It 
is a marble shaft one hundred and sixty-four feet high, 
with a statue of Washington on top. It seems small in 
comparison with the huge structure we saw at the national 
capital. 

We find ourselves very hungry after our rapid tour of the 
city, and decide to lunch at the station before we go on to 
Philadelphia. 

What shall we eat? 

We order oysters, for Baltimore is the chief oyster and 
crab market of the world. More than one third of all our 
oysters are grown in the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and 
as many as fifteen million crabs are caught there in one year. 
In Baltimore there are many thousand men and women 
who do nothing but take oysters out of their shells in order 
that they may be shipped in tubs and cans to different parts 
of the country. We Americans eat more oysters than the 
people of any other nation. We consume in one year enough 
to give one dozen to every man, woman, and child on the 
globe, and still leave some to spare. 

Oysters grow nearly everywhere in the shallow waters 
along our seacoast, but we have larger oyster beds and more 
good oysters in Chesapeake Bay than anywhere else. 
Most of the oysters grow of themselves; but there are also 
oyster farms, where shells are thrown into the water and 
seed oysters are sown. The young oysters fasten themselves 
to the shells and by and by grow shells of their own. 

The oysters are gathered during the fall and winter by 



BALTIMORE AND THE OYSTER BEDS 



59 



men who sail in boats over the beds where they lie. The 
men have long rakes, which they push down into the water 
and thus drag up the oysters. Sometimes they use dredges, 
or great shovels worked by machinery, which scoop the 
shellfish up from the bottom of the bay. 




Emptying oysters from a dredge on the deck of a large boat. 



But here come our oysters. What queer-looking things 
they are as they he on the shells! They have mouths, 
but no heads. The mouth is in the narrowest portion of the 
body. It is merely a hole in the skin, for the oyster has 
neither tongue nor teeth. The mouth has four thin lips, 
and the oyster gets its food by filtering through them the 
water which it takes into its mouth. It has no nose and 
no eyes, but scientists say that it will close up its shell if 
a shadow passes over the water above it. Hence it must 



BALTIMORE AND THE OYSTER BEDS 6i 

have some way of knowing what is going on about it. The 
oyster has gills and a heart. Its stomach is a little bag 
which Hes just behind the mouth. 

As we think of these things, we almost hesitate to let 
the oysters slip down our throats. We try one, however. 
The delicious taste takes away our scruples, and we find 
ourselves eating a dozen before we are satisfied. 

1. Locate Baltimore. What advantages has it for commerce by 
sea? By interior waterways? By railways? 

2. On a globe trace a shipment of corn from Baltimore to Liver- 
pool. To Hamburg. Of tobacco to Marseille. Trace a shipment of 
oysters from Baltimore to Chicago. 

3. Make a trip to Bahimore from your home town, giving the 
distances and the names of the railways over which you go. 

4. Compare Baltimore in size with five of the largest cities of 
North America. Of South America. What cities of Europe are of 
about the same size? 

5. Why is Baltimore famous as an oyster market? Describe the 
oyster industry, and tell all you can about oysters. (See Carpenter's 
"How the World is Fed," page 171.) 

6. From what oysters do the pearls of commerce come? (See 
Carpenter's "How the World is Clothed," page 299.) 



-oo>*{o-i 



IX. PHILADELPHIA-A VISIT TO THE MINT 

A CAR ride of ninety-seven miles takes us from 
^ ^ Baltimore to Philadelphia in less than three hours. 
We cross the wide Susquehanna River near where it flows 
into Chesapeake Bay, and a little later we stop at the 
manufacturing city of Wilmington, Delaware, near where 
General Washington fought the British in the battle of 
Brandywine. 

Long before we reach Philadelphia itself we see many 



62 



NORTH AMERICA 



great factories and realize that we are In one of our chief 
industrial centers. There are only two cities In the United 
States that have more manufacturing establishments than 
Philadelphia, and they are New York and Chicago. There 
are several hundred thousand men and women here who 
make things to sell. Thousands are busy weaving cotton, 
woolen, and silk into cloths and carpets, and thousands 
are making knit goods, shoes, felt hats, and other clothing. 




Hat factory, Philadelphia. The hals are made of feked rabbit fur. 
In this room the workmen are shaping the hats. 

There are so many thousands engaged in shipbuilding that 
the Delaware River is sometimes called the American 
Clyde, after the famous shipbuilding center of Scotland. 
The finest of our merchant marine and the greatest of our 



PHILADELPHIA 63 

men-of-war are built here. Philadelphia makes more rail- 
road locomotives than any other city, and it has large 
numbers of people engaged in manufacturing other things 
of iron and steel, in the refining of petroleum and sugar, and 
in the manufacturing of leather. It has also a large chem- 
ical and dye-making industry. 

As we proceed on our tour over the United States, we 
shall see more and more factories, and learn that our manu- 
facturing industry is greater than that of any other nation. 
When our country was first settled, most of the people 
were farmers. As more came they began to make things to 
sell. This has gone on until now a very large part of our 
population is engaged in manufacturing. We have more 
than twelve times as many factories as we had forty years 
ago, and billions of dollars are earned every year by those 
who w^ork in them. If we could see all the laboring people 
of the world, we should perceive that those of the United 
States are better fed, better clothed, and better housed than 
those of any other nation. This is especially true of 
Philadelphia. The people we meet are well dressed, and we 
walk for miles through long streets of neat little houses built 
of red brick, with steps of white marble. These are the 
homes of the working people, and it is said that more 
persons own their homes in Philadelphia than in any 
other city of its size. 

Why has Philadelphia become a great manufacturing 
city? 

One reason is because it is so situated that raw materi- 
als can be brought cheaply to it and its manufactured goods 
shipped cheaply to other parts of the United States. Some 
of the lowest passes through the Appalachian Highland 
can be reached from Philadelphia so that railways give the 
city an easy road to the lands farther west. It has several 




Ocean liner, built in Philadelphia, almost ready for launching. 

64 



PHILADELPHIA 65 

important trunk lines of railway. The Pennsylvania 
system, which has its headquarters here, controls so many 
iron tracks that if they were joined together they would 
reach halfway around the world. 

Philadelphia is also a seaport, although it is almost one 
hundred miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Large vessels can 
sail up through Delaware Bay and on the Delaware River 
to Philadelphia, bringing the raw materials to the factories 
and carrying the goods made from them to all parts of the 
world. The Schuylkill (skoorkil) and Delaware rivers, 
which here come together, furnish Philadelphia with more 
than thirty miles of water front for docks and shipyards. 
They also give water power for manufacturing purposes, 
and the city lies so near the bituminous coal mines of 
Pennsylvania that the fuel for steam and electric power 
costs but little. Moreover, the only large beds of anthra- 
cite coal in America are situated not far away. This coal 
makes a great heat and is valuable for manufacturing. 
It is used largely also as a fuel to heat our homes. Anthra- 
cite is so hard that for a long time people did not think it 
would burn. But to-day many of us are protected from 
the cold of the winters by nothing else than anthracite 
coal. 

Philadelphia was founded by the Quakers under William 
Penn, to whom the King of England had granted the tract 
which afterwards became the state of Pennsylvania. Phila- 
delphia is sometimes called the Quaker City and also, as 
its name indicates, the ''City of Brotherly Love." During 
most of the Revolution, and also from 1790 to 1800, it was 
the capital of the United States. It was here that the Con- 
tinental Congress met, and here that our Constitution was 
drawn up. 

We go to Independence Hall, where the Declaration of 




66 



PHILADELPHIA 67 

Independence was adopted and the Constitution was 
framed, and where hangs the famous Liberty Bell, and 
then to Carpenter's Hall, where the first Continental 
Congress assembled. We visit the old Customhouse 
modeled after the Greek Parthenon, look at the home of 
Betsy Ross, who made the first United States flag of stars 
and stripes, and then, walk about the City Hall, an enor- 
mous structure of granite and marble covering more than 
four acres. Upon its tall tower is one of the largest statues 
of the world. It is a bronze figure of William Penn, made 
by Philadelphia workmen. It does not seem large as seen 
from the ground;^ but it is really as tall as a three-story 
house, and the buttons on the coat are as large around as a 
tea plate. 

During our tour of the city we linger a moment at the 
grave of Benjamin Franklin. It is in the yard of Christ 
Church, in the midst of the hum and hurry of the busy city, 
marked only by a plain marble slab. It was in Philadelphia 
that Benjamin Franklin lived the greater part of his life. 
He was born in Boston, and learned there the trade of a 
printer. He was only a boy when he came to Philadelphia 
to find work, and his first meal here was a loaf of bread 
which he bought and ate as he walked through the streets. 
He afterwards became a great man and was of much serv- 
ice to the United States. 

When Franklin first came to Philadelphia, it was larger 
than New York, and it remained so until the Erie Canal 
was built. After that New York got ahead, but Philadelphia 
continued to be the second city of the United States for 
many years, and it is now surpassed in size only by New 
York and Chicago. It has almost two million people. As 
we look at its magnificent buildings we can hardly realize 
that the people lived in bark houses or caves while the 



68 NORTH AMERICA 

first houses were building, less than three hundred years 
ago, and when we are told the enormous value of the land 
where the city now stands we think of the price at which 
the whole state was granted to William Penn. It was in 
payment of a debt of eighty thousand dollars due Admiral 
Penn, who was William Penn's father, for services rendered 
the king. The sum equals only about one third of a cent 
per acre. 

We visit the mint, where most of our gold, silver, and 
copper money is coined. We have mints also in Denver 
and San Francisco, but the Philadelphia mint is the oldest, 
having been founded during the presidency of George 
Washington. The first coins made were copper cents. 
Coins of gold and silver were minted later, and last of all 
came the nickel. 

The mint is situated in the heart of Philadelphia, not 
far from the City Hall. There are guards at the door, and 
visitors are carefully watched as they are taken from room 
to room and shown the processes of coining. The super- 
intendent of the mint is our guide. He leads us down into 
the vaults, where the gold and silver bullion and coins 
are stored away. In one vault we see millions of silver 
dollars tied up in bags, and stacked against the wall like 
so much com. In a smaller room are gold bricks piled up 
in regular order. 

The superintendent asks us to lift one of the bricks, but 
our fingers slip off it as if it were glued to the floor. It 
is small and looks light, but it weighs forty pounds, or 
as much as a six-year-old boy. It is from such bricks 
that our gold money is made. We next enter a room 
where men are melting gold together with a little copper 
— 9 pounds of gold to i of copper — in order that the coins 
may be harder and wear better. The pure gold we saw 



A VISIT TO THE MINT 69 

in the bricks is so soft that we could scratch it with our 
finger nails. The superintendent tells us that coins of 
pure gold would soon wear away, and that a wedding ring 
of pure gold would not last many years. 

The melted gold is cast into strips or ingots about a foot 
long, two inches thick, and as wide as a twenty-dollar 
gold piece. It is from such ingots that the golden eagles, 
worth twenty dollars, are made. 

As we go on into the silver-melting room we see how 
the metal for the silver dollars is cast into ingots of the 
same form, and follow the ingots to learn how they are 
made into dollars. 

We soon find that our coins are not cast in molds, like 
bullets, as some of us had guessed; instead they are stamped 
out of the gold or silver metal. The silver ingots are 
rolled between cylinders of steel so graduated that the 
ingots grow longer and thinner as they are pulled back and 
forth, until at last they are just a little wider and about as 
thick as a silver dollar. The metal is now in long bands, 
and from these bands a vertical steel punch cuts out the 
blank or round pieces of silver of which the dollars are 
to be made. 

It is important that every coin should have the right 
amount of silver in it, so each blank is automatically 
weighed before it is stamped. It is then taken down into 
the basement of the mint, and is shoveled with thousands 
of other blanks into a vat of acid, which eats off the dirt. 
It is now ready to go upstairs to be coined. 

The coining is done in machines into which the blanks 
are fed through a long tube, so that the blank is dropped 
between two dies. The upper die bears the picture of 
the goddess of liberty, and the lower that of the American 
eagle. As the blank lies there, the two dies come together 




Cutting out blanks for silver dollars. 
70 



A VISIT TO THE MINT 71 

upon it, exerting pressure so great that the pictures and 
letters are stamped on the coin. 

Gold and copper coins are made in the same way. The 
total value of the gold pieces coined in the mints of the 
United States from 1792 to 1914 is more than three thou- 
sand million dollars, and that of the silver pieces is hun- 
dreds of millions. Shortly after we took possession of 
the Philippines, eighty-six million coins for those islands 
were made in this building. 

Leaving the mint, we go to Franklin Field, the athletic 
grounds of the Pennsylvania University, to watch the 
boys play football, and thence to the Zoological Garden, 
which is free to school children. We visit Girard College, 
which was founded by a rich man for the education of 
poor orphan boys, and take a trip to Fairmount Park, 
one of the largest and finest city parks in the world, lying 
on both sides of the Schuylkill River. Then after a meal 
at the railroad station at Broad Street, we take the train 
for New York. 

1. Locate Philadelphia. How far is it from the sea? On what 
rivers? In what state? Give its distance by railway from New York. 
From New Orleans. From San Francisco. (See table, page 498.) 
How far is it by railway from your home? 

2. What advantages has Philadelphia as a seaport? As a manu- 
facturing center? Ask your coal dealer where he buys his hard coal. 
Ask your railroad agent where the locomotives of his railroad are made. 

3. Who was Benjamin Franklin? What famous experiment did he 
make with a kite? 

4. When and how long was Philadelphia the capital of the United 
States? Who was President of the United States during part of that 
time? Name three great historic events that occurred here. Why is 
Philadelphia called the Quaker City? Why the city of Brotherly 
Love? 

5. Why is not our gold coin made of pure gold? What is an ingot? 
A die? 

CARP. N. AMER. — 5 



72 NORTH AMERICA 

6. Compare the Delaware River with the Clyde as to shipbuilding. 
(See Carpenter's ''Europe.") 

7. Who was William Penn? About what sum per acre did he pay 
for the state of Pennsylvania? At that rate, what would a six hun- 
dred acre farm cost? What is the cost per acre of farm land about 
your town? 

X. NEW YORK AND SOME OF ITS WONDERS 

IT takes us two hours to go from Philadelphia to New 
York. The distance is ninety-one miles. Our train 
takes us through Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, 
near where Washington crossed the Delaware to fight his 
great battle, and not far from Princeton, where he wrote 
his farewell address to the army. Trenton is famous for 
its pottery manufactures, making all kinds of wares from 
common china to fine porcelain. It has iron works, rubber 
factories, and wire mills that are the largest of their kind 
in the world. 

Farther on the train stops at other industrial centers, 
including Newark on the Passaic River. Newark makes 
so many different things that it is sometimes called the 
Birmingham of America, in comparison with Birmingham, 
the famous manufacturing center of England. We see 
many smokestacks, and great factories of brick, iron, and 
glass as we go by. Paterson, the silk-making center, is 
not far away, and this whole region, which is only a few 
miles from New York, is humming with industry. 

Our train stops a moment near the banks of the Hudson, 
and then shoots into a tunnel far under the bed of the 
river. It is now cooler. It is dark, and the lights are 
flashed on in the cars. Our ears ring as we ride through the 
compressed air of the tunnel, and the noise is like the 



NEW YORK AND SOME OF ITS WONDERS 73 

rushing of a great wind. We pass lights here and there, 
and when we come out find ourselves in the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Station in one of the busiest parts of New York. 

There are other tunnels in New York, and we might 
cross under the East River to Brooklyn or go underground 
to many other parts of the city. These tunnels are really 
steel tubes so encased with cement that the water cannot 
seep through. They are lighted and ventilated by elec- 
tricity, and the cars are moved by the same motive power. 

We are now in the largest city of the world. New York 
proper has about six million people, and the metropolitan 
district of New York, which includes also residences and 
manufacturing suburbs, contains about eight millions, 
exceeding the population of London. It has about one 
fourteenth of all the people of the United States. Indeed, 
it is difficult to realize how big New York is. It grows upon 
us at every step as we travel through it. We ask for a 
hotel, and hardly know which to choose when we are told 
that there are so many in New York that we could lodge 
in a difTerent one every night for three years without going 
outside the city. 

We learn also that New York has thousands of apart- 
ment houses, and that new ones are constantly being built. 
Four million New Y^orkers live in apartments, ranging 
from the tenement houses in the poorer districts to the 
palace-like buildings in the fashionable residential sections. 

More than a thousand passenger trains leave New York 
every day. The traffic of the city is so great that it requires 
roads both above and below ground, and, as we shall see 
farther on, elevated railroads, the cars of which fly through 
the air over steel tracks supported on posts. The business 
sections are so crowded with motor trucks, drays, carts, 
and automobiles that we have to ask a policeman to help 




74 



NEW YORK AND SOME OF ITS WONDERS 75 

US from one side of the street to the other. The police are 
everywhere, and it takes more than ten thousand such 
men to keep order. They are dressed in blue uniforms with 
silver badges on the breasts of their coats. Many are 
stationed at the principal street crossings. Such an officer, 
with a motion of his hand to the drivers, will hold back 
the traffic on one of the intersecting streets while the traffic 
and the people are crossing it on the other street. Then 
he whistles and changes the signal to give the right of way 
again to the traffic on the first street. 

At first we determine to see the whole city, but find it 
has so many streets that if we should walk ten miles every 
day we could not go through them all in one year, and 
we give up that plan in despair. 

Before we go on, let us consider just where New York 
is; for it is its situation that has made it so great. The city 
is located about midway on the coast line of our eastern 
states, which are the busiest part of our country. It is 
about three thousand miles from Europe; and it has one 
of the largest and best harbors of the world. The oldest 
and most important part of the city is on the island of 
Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, and other 
parts include the Bronx on the mainland to the north, 
Staten Island, and the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn 
on Long Island, all of which have a water front on the 
rivers or on New York Bay. 

From this harbor run the easiest routes from the At- 
lantic Ocean to the parts of the United States where most 
of the people live. Several railroads and motor-truck lines 
make their way through the Hudson and Mohawk valleys, 
where the pass over the Appalachian Highland is so low 
that freight has to be lifted much less than upon the passes 
farther south. Therefore the cars going through these 



76 NORTH AMERICA 

valleys can carry goods more cheaply to the interior of 
our country than those from other seaports. 

Moreover, New York is connected with the Great Lakes 
by the Hudson River and the New York Barge Canal, so 
that the vast farming and manufacturing regions lying 
about and beyond those lakes can send their products by 
water to New York for shipment to Europe, and by the 
same route have cheap goods in return. This, however, 
is of little importance in comparison with the advantages 
of low passes for the railways, which carry most of the 
traffic. 

The anthracite coal mines are only one hundred miles 
to the west, and bituminous coal comes in cheaply by rail 
and by sea. Thus fuel as well as the raw materials for 
the factories can be brought here at small cost, and goods 
can be shipped almost anywhere at a low rate. 

The island of Manhattan is not more than fourteen miles 
long. It is so narrow that we can walk from one side of 
it to the other at almost any point in half an hour. We 
shall begin to explore at the lower part of the island. The 
ground here is covered with buildings so high that as we 
look up they seem almost to touch the sky. They wall the 
sidewalks so that the streets look like canyons. One of 
them exceeds by almost one third the height of the Wash- 
ington monument. The land here is so valuable that the 
people seem to build almost to the heavens to utilize every 
square foot. It is worth so much that all the gold mines 
of the globe could not in ten years produce enough money 
to buy it. 

When our forefathers came, Manhattan Island belonged 
to the Indians. What do you think the Indians got for it? 

They sold it for goods worth twenty-four dollars. The 
island contains twenty-two thousand acres, and at that 



NEW YORK AND SOME OF ITS WONDERS 77 

rate the white men paid for each acre only about one tenth 
of a cent. It was rocky and covered with forests. The 
Indians did not think it of any value. They had never 
heard of such a thing as a seaport, and the land was hard 
to get at with their little canoes. They did not know what 
money meant, and they took their pay in ribbons, beads, 
and other small trinkets. The men who bought the island 
belonged to a small group of people from Holland. They 
built a little town on the lower end of it and named it New 
Amsterdam, after their famous city Amsterdam. The place 
was so called as long as it was controlled by the Dutch, 
but a little later, when it was taken by the English, it was 
renamed New York. 

The little settlement grew rapidly. It was already the 
second city of the United States when the Declaration of 
Independence was signed, and soon after the Erie Canal 
was opened it surpassed Philadelphia and became the chief 
American city. There is no doubt that it will continue to 
grow, and that it will always hold its own as the greatest 
city of the world. 

We spend some time on Broadway, the chief business 
street of lower New York, and the main artery into which 
the other streets flow. How lively it is and how noisy! 
Every one is on the rush, and as we join the hurrying crowd 
we are jostled and pushed this way and that. The side- 
walks are black with men, women, and children moving 
along, paying little attention to any one but themselves. 
The roadways are blocked with motor trucks and other ve- 
hicles. There are frequent jams, and the drivers often scold 
one another. There are car lines running through the 
streets, and stations by which we can go down into the 
subways at every few blocks. 

Now and then we stop and look up. The buildings are 




7S 



NEW YORK AND SOME OF ITS WONDERS 79 

so tall we could not shoot an arrow as high as their 
roofs. Some of them have forty or more stories; one has 
forty acres of floor space and its elevator shafts if placed 
end to end would reach to a height of two miles. Another 
office building has one thousand windows, and some of the 
great hotels have more than two thousand rooms. 

These great office structures are furnished like palaces. 
We walk through them over floors of marble and fly on 
elevators from story to story. Some have post offices in 
them. Others have stores of many kinds on the ground 
floor, and many have restaurants in the top story, where 
we eat our lunch high above the spires of the tallest church 
steeples. Indeed, one could live in one of these large 
buildings and have all his wants supplied without going out. 

Everything is business in this part of New York. On all 
sides of us are great wholesale establishments and there are 
retail stores everywhere. The retail drygoods business 
alone includes two thousand stores, employing more than 
one hundred and fifty thousand people. There are factories 
on almost every block and as we go through the side streets 
we observe that thousands are working in cellars making 
many kinds of goods under the ground. 

We walk up Broadway past City Hall Park, and then 
turn and go back a few blocks down the street to Trinity 
Church, one of the oldest and most interesting buildings of 
the United States. It is made of browns tone, and there 
is a large churchyard about it, in which are the graves of 
some famous Americans of the past. The yard is filled 
with flowers and trees, and it seems strangely peaceful in 
contrast with the pushing throng on Broadway. 

We enter, and stand for a moment by the tomb of 
Robert Fulton, who made the Clermont, the first steam- 
boat that sailed on the Hudson River. Its trial trip from 



8o NORTH AMERICA 

New York to Albany was made in 1807, and that voyage 
proved that steamboats would be profitable. Therefore, 
we may call Robert Fulton the father of the thousands of 
steamships which come to New York every year. Near 
Robert Fulton lies Captain James Lawrence, the hero of the 
frigate Chesapeake, and the author of the saying, "Don't 
give up the ship"; and at the lower end of the yard, near 
the fence, we see a white marble monument under which' 
are the remains of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founders 
of our government, who was shot by Aaron Burr in a duel. 

Leaving the churchyard and crossing Broadway, we take 
a walk through the Wall Street section, where are the offices 
of the men who own or direct much of the wealth of our 
country. 

Wall Street is often called the money capital of the 
United States. Its daily transactions amount to many 
millions of dollars and its yearly exchanges are reckoned in 
billions. The sums are so vast we cannot comprehend 
them. On Broad Street, near Wall, is the Stock Exchange, 
where stocks and bonds to the amount of billions of dollars 
are bought and sold annually. By stocks are meant shares 
in different business enterprises such as railroads, steam- 
ships, telegraphs and telephones, as well as in all our great 
business and manufacturing industries. The prices of such 
shares sometimes change quickly, and men make and lose* 
fortunes in buying and selling them. It is in the Stock 
Exchange that such work is done. 

We are admitted to the gallery of the building and look 
down. In the great room below us are hundreds of well- 
dressed men, some with hats on and some without, running 
to and fro, pulling and yelling at one another. They are 
the bankers and brokers who are the members of the ex- 
change. It costs each of them tens of thousands of dollars 



OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 8i 

for the privilege of buying and selling there. Each has a 
little notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other, and 
with these he jots down his purchases and sales. Telegraph 
boys rush in and out through the crowd, and the sight 
makes us think of a crowd of crazy people rather than of 
sensible men. 

Near by is the Produce Exchange, where grain of all 
kinds is bought and sold. New York is one of the chief 
grain markets of the world, and in this exchange wheat, 
corn, and oats are sold not by the single bushel, but by the 
thousands of bushels. The smallest amount one can buy 
or sell is five thousand bushels, and miUions of bushels are 
often bought in one day. We next visit the Cotton Ex- 
change, w^here men trade in cotton in large quantities; 
and our heads fairly swim as we try to understand the 
vast sums involved in one day's business of this financial 
center. 

We are anxious to get out of the bustle, and we walk 
down a side street to rest our eyes and ears before taking 
taxicabs to the hotel uptown where we shall stay over 
night. 



XI. OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 

THE largest hotels of New York are several miles 
above the place where Wall Street runs into Broad- 
way. That in which we stay is not far from the Pennsyl- 
vania Station, and when we start out in the morning we are 
in the heart of one of the great shopping districts. Broad- 
way here is almost as busy as down at Trinity Church, and 
Fifth and Sixth avenues and the side streets leading to them 
are so lined with store windows that as we walk along we 



82 NORTH AMERICA 

seem to be going through a huge museum walled with glass 
cases. 

Goods of all kinds are spread out before us, and we see 
that every nation of the world has sent its products to New 
York for sale. Those bright-colored silks over there came 
from China. They were woven on rude looms by yellow- 
skinned, slant-eyed men and women upon the banks of 
the Yangtze River. They were brought to America on a 
steamship through the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the 
Suez Canal. They crossed the Mediterranean, passed 
through the Strait of Gibraltar, and thence came to New 
York. Those rich velvets and laces were brought across 
the Atlantic Ocean from Europe; and those diamonds you 
see in that jewelry store were dug by black-skinned, half- 
naked men in the mines of South Africa. 

Here is a tea store supplied by the bushes of the Hima- 
laya Mountains in northern India and by the tea gardens 
of Japan and China. Next to it is a shop where one can 
buy coffee from Brazil and sugar from Cuba. That toy 
store has many French dolls and curious mechanical play- 
things made in the mountains of Germany; and the tiger- 
skin rug in the window next door once covered the body 
of a beast that prowled through the jungles of northern 
Hindustan. There are other things all about us from every 
part of the world, and we resolve to go to the wharves 
and see the great ships which bring these goods into our 
country. 

Let us first take a ride to the lower part of the island. 
New York is so crowded that the surface electric cars 
require a long time to make their way from one end of it 
to the other. For this reason subways have been dug under 
the streets, and elevated railroads have been built high 
above the roadways. All the lines are double-tracked. 



OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 83 

Indeed, the subways for long distances have four tracks, 
and the elevated railroads three tracks, so that they carry 
both local trains and express trains. The cars go almost as 
rapidly as on an ordinary railway. The elevated tracks 
are supported by steel columns which extend to the height 
of the second or third story windows. 

We have to walk upstairs to get to the train, and we find 
ticket offices and news stands on the elevated platforms. 
Our tickets cost us five cents apiece. We drop them into the 
box at the door of the station, and rush for the cars. As we 
step aboard, the guard closes the iron gates at the side of the 
car platform, and the train begins to move. The car 
windows are like those of a street car, and we can see into 
the upper stories of the houses as we ride through the air. 
Here women are washing clothes, there they are cooking; 
here we go by a shop where tailors are working, and there 
pass buildings given up to other manufacturing. 

New York has more factories than any other city of our 
country. It has a million people who make things to sell, 
and the different kinds of industries are more than one 
thousand. The manufacturing plants number twenty-five 
thousand. The capital used is over one billion dollars, and 
if every man, woman, and child in the United States should 
put twelve dollars into one pile, it would not be enough to 
buy the goods which New York turns out in one year. The 
city makes one fourth of all the jewelry, one half of all the 
clothing, one fifth of all the paint, and all together about 
one tenth of all the manufactured goods produced in the 
United States in one year. 

Here we are at the wharves. What a crush and jam there 
is all about us! The streets are crowded with wagons and 
motor trucks loaded with goods on their way to the ships. 
We walk past great piers upon which are long, roomy 



OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 85 

sheds filled with bales, boxes, and barrels, where scores of 
men are at work loading and unloading vessels. 

Manhattan alone has over fifty miles of water front, 
and there is as much more space for wharves and landing 
places on the Long Island and New Jersey shores. More 
than half of all that we buy of foreign nations and about two 
fifths of all we sell to them, pass through the port of New 
York. 

Our imports, with the exception of silk, rubber, hides, 
wool and certain other fibers, and a few things that cannot 
well be raised in America, consist almost altogether of man- 
ufactured articles. We are the chief manufacturing nation 
of the world, but our factories are not numerous enough to 
supply all our needs, and so we import much from other 
countries. The amount of money we spend in this way is 
so great that if it were equally divided every man, woman, 
and child of us would get ten dollars ' worth each year, and 
there would be many milhons to spare. 

Moreover, we sell to other countries goods worth about 
as much as the merchandise we buy of them, so that it 
takes a great fleet of vessels to carry our goods abroad and 
to bring foreign goods back to us. Over three thousand 
steamships annually come from foreign countries to the 
wharves of New York, and there are in addition thousands 
of sailing vessels. A procession of steamers is always moving 
back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean carrying our 
wares to the people of Europe and bringing their wares to 
us. 

A large part of all we sell abroad is produced on our farms. 
We raise so much more than we can use that the United 
States has become a great country store for the European 
nations. Every year hundreds of ships laden with grain 
sail out of New York. The steamers have their holds filled 



86 NORTH AMERICA 

with grain in bulk, and between the decks the wheat is 
piled up in bags. Such vessels are loaded quickly, half a 
million bushels of grain being often packed away in a ship 
in one hour. Great quantities of meat and other provisions 
are sent abroad every week, and live cattle also are carried 
across the Atlantic to be killed there for the markets. 

The people of most other puntries send to our great 
store for a part of the oil which they use in their lamps. 
Our petroleum is shipped from New York, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, and other places in tank steamers, a single 
one of which will hold thirty thousand barrels of oil. The 
steamer is divided into a half-dozen or more huge tanks. 
The oil is pumped into the tanks, and it remains there in 
bulk until it is again pumped out upon the wharves of the 
great ports of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

It is in vessels of the same kind that molasses is brought 
to the United States from Cuba. Think of the biggest 
house you have ever seen as one solid box, and let it be 
filled with molasses, and you may get some idea of the 
sweetness that, protected only by a thin sheet of steel, is 
thus carried through the salt waters of the ocean. 

While at the wharves we visit ships loaded with cotton. 
This comes from the plantations of our southern states and 
is carried in bales to Europe and Asia to be made into cloth. 
We get more than twice as much every year from the raw 
cotton we sell to other countries as from our sales of wheat 
and flour. Cotton is, in fact, one of the most valuable of 
all the articles that the rest of the world buys from our 
store. We sell more than half of all we produce, and some- 
times get as much as eight hundred million dollars for our 
foreign exports of cotton. We sell also great quantities of 
manufactures of various kinds, and such exports increase 
every year. 



OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 87 

Our chief trade is with Europe, but we are sending more 
and more to Asia, South America, Australia, and x\frica, 
and to our cousins of the Hawaiian and PhiHppine Islands. 
The English are our best customers. They buy a vast deal 
of our raw cotton, breadstuffs, and meats, for which they 
pay several times as much as we pay for the manufactured 
articles they sell to us. 

The fastest steamers of the world come from England to 
New York. Some vessels now cross the Atlantic in less 
than five days, traveling so swiftly that they have been 
called ocean greyhounds. We visit one of these steamers, 
the Imperator, which has just come from Liverpool. It is 
a great floating house of a half-dozen stories, so long that 
it would reach the length of two average city blocks, filling 
the street and extending high over most of the houses. If 
stood upon end it would reach above the top of the tallest 
building of New York, which is over seven hundred and 
fifty feet high (page 88). The ship has large dining rooms, 
sitting rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms, and we see that 
people can now live quite as well upon the water as upon 
the land. We look at the enormous engines, as strong as 
fifty thousand horses, which drive the huge ship through 
the water, and are surprised when told that its furnaces 
eat every day as much coal as would heat fifty large 
dwelling houses for a whole year. 

Away down in the lower part of the ship we find some 
large rooms not so well furnished. This is the steerage. It 
is full of immigrants who have come across the Atlantic 
from Europe. Such people are not landed at this wharf. 
They will be carried to Ellis Island, in the harbor, where 
the officers of the Immigration Bureau will examine each 
one to know whether he is likely to make a good citizen of 
the United States. We are glad to have people from all 

CARP. N. AMER. — 6 




The length of the Imperator as compared with New 
tallest building, which is over 750 feet high. 



York's 



OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 89 

parts of the world to settle in our country and aid in devel- 
oping it; but we do not wish any who are diseased or 
unable to work and hence likely to go into the poorhouses to 
live. Therefore our government has provided that all 
immigrants coming to this country must be examined 
before they can land. If they have no money at all, or are 
idiots, insane, or diseased, or have been convicted of stealing 
or certain other crimes, they are sent back to the countries 
whence they came. 

For years the poor people from all parts of Europe have 
been coming to America, because they can make more 
money and live better here than at home. Since 1820 it is 
estimated that about thirty-three million immigrants have 
arrived on our shores, and now nearly half of our inhabitants 
were either born in other countries or are the children of peo- 
ple born there. Many of the immigrants stay in New York. 
It has more Jews than any other city in the world. It has 
more Irish than any city in Ireland. It has hundreds of thou- 
sands of Germans and Italians and people from Russia. 

We visit Ellis Island, where these immigrants land. 
Here we find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of odd- 
looking men, women, and children. Very few of the women 
wear hats, and the men have caps or queerly shaped hats. 
There are many English and Irish, and a large number 
of Germans. There are dark-faced Italians, and long- 
bearded Jews from Russia and Poland. There are fair- 
skinned people from Norway and Sweden, and sturdy boys 
and girls from Holland, some of whom wear wooden shoes. 
Everybody has his baggage with him, and some sit on 
piles of bedding which they have brought from their homes. 
They seem strangely out of place; but as we look at them 
we realize that they are strong and able to work, and that 
they may make good American citizens. 



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OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE 



91 



We take a boat and sail over to Bedloes Island to see the 
statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. It is as high as a 
tall church steeple. We get some idea of its size when we 
learn that forty men have stood inside its head at one time, 




The statute of Liberty, seen from Ellis Island. 



and that its forefinger is so long that it would reach from 
the floor to the ceiling of an average room, and so big around 
that the hoop of a flour barrel would just about fit it if used 



as a rmsr. 



As we leave the statue and go back to Manhattan we 
have a fine view of the Brooklyn Bridge, the oldest of the 
bridges which unite Brooklyn with Manhattan Island. 
(This bridge is in the foreground on page 74.) It is an 
immense structure of stone and steel, more than a mile long, 



^2 NORTH AMERICA 

crossing the East River. It cost more than the Capitol at 
Washington. Connecting Manhattan with Long Island 
and with the mainland are many other bridges, upon 
which have been spent all together about one hundred 
million dollars. In addition there are sixteen great tubes 
under the rivers, so travel is made easy between the dif- 
ferent parts of the city. There is also a steel-arch bridge 
which connects the city with a great trunk line to New 
England, and the trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad can 
now go from Washington to Boston without transferring 
the cars or the passengers. This bridge carries four railroad 
tracks and is the heaviest and longest arch in the world; it 
cost about fifteen million dollars. 

During our stay in New York we ride up Fifth Avenue 
on the top of a motor bus. This takes us through the great 
retail shopping center, and past mile after mile of magnif- 
icent stores. The way is thronged with automobiles, two 
continuous streams, each two or three cars wide, flowing on 
the two sides of the street. 

We take motor cars to see some of the many other 
wonders of the city. We visit the Public Library, which 
has more than two nlillion volumes, and fine collections of 
paintings and prints. We spend some time in the Metro- 
politan Museum, of Art, where are many of the great paint- 
,ings, statues, and other examples of art in the United 
) States; and in the American Museum of Natural History 
' we find wonderful collections of stuffed animals and birds, 
insects, minerals, and other things from all parts of the 
world. We ride up Riverside Drive, and see the tomb of 
General Grant overlooking the Hudson. 

Some of our evenings are spent at the theaters, of which 
New York has several scores, or in visiting the great moving 
picture houses, which are attended by hundreds of thou- 




Fifth Avenue in front of the Pubhc Library. Traffic is controlled by 
colored lights in the little tower in the middle of the avenue. 

93 



94 NORTH AMERICA 

sands of people every night. We are interested also in the 
churches, of which there are so many that one could go to 
two different churches every Sunday throughout the year 
and then not visit them all. They represent almost every 
religion, and among them are the largest churches in the 
United States, namely. Saint Patrick's Cathedral and the 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine. 

We spend a great deal of time in Central Park. We 
watch the boys and girls of New York at play, and take 
a ride in the boats on the lake. We look at the Obelisk 
from far-away Egypt and photograph some of the many 
statues, including those of Shakespeare, Robert Burns, 
and Sir Walter Scott. 

At Bronx Park we visit the Zoological Garden, one of 
the largest in the world, where there are hundreds of ani- 
mals, birds, and reptiles. We walk about through the 
Botanical Gardens, where are growing thousands of 
different kinds of trees and shrubs and flowers. 

At the old Polo Grounds in Manhattan, many world- 
championship baseball games have been played. In 
Brooklyn there is another great baseball field, and the 
beautiful Prospect Park; but we have not time to visit 
them now. We go back to our hotel to spend the night 
and then take taxicabs for the Grand Central Railway 
Station, where a train drawn by two electric locomotives 
is ready to start for New England. 

1. Locate New York. How far is it from San Francisco? From 
New Orleans? From Boston? From Chicago? What is the distance 
from New York to Cape Town? (See table, page 496.) To Colon, 
on the Panama Canal? To Port Said, on the Suez Canal? To 
Liverpool? To Yokohama? Take a trip to each of these places, 
showing the route you would travel. At fifteen miles per hour by 
ship how long would you be on the way? 

2. Start at your home and make a trip to New York. What rail- 



NEW ENGLAND 95 

ways do you take? Through what important cities do you pass? 
At thirty miles per hour, how long would your trip take? 

3. What is the population of your home locality? How many such 
places would equal New York? Compare New York in size with 
London, and with the three other largest cities of Europe. With the 
two largest cities of South America. With ten of the largest cities 
of the United States, giving the distances of each from New York. 
With the two largest cities of Asia. 

4. What advantages has New York as a commercial center? By 
its sea routes? By its land routes? What valley makes it the easiest 
gateway to the interior of the United States? 

5. Why has New York become our largest manufacturing city? 
What proportion of our manufactures does it make? Ask one of your 
merchants how many kinds of goods he gets from New York. 

6. Trace a shipment of raw silk from Yokohama to New York. Of 
tea from Shanghai. Of cofifee from Rio de Janeiro. Of wool from 
Melbourne, Australia. Of sugar from Havana, Cuba. 

7. Who founded New York? What price was paid the Indians 
for the land? What was the first name of the city? 

8. Why do so many of our immigrants come to New York? Is it 
a good thing for our country to have immigrants? From what land 
did your forefathers come? 

9. How high is the house in which you live? How many such 
buildings, one on, top of another, would equal the height of the tallest 
building in New York? 

10. Describe your visit to the city, mentioning the things which 
have been most interesting to you. 



»>»Cc 



XIL— NEW ENGLAND— COMMERCE AND 
MANUFACTURES 

NEW England is the name often used for the north- 
eastern portion of the United States, comprising 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, and Connecticut, six of the smaller states of our 



NEW ENGLAND 97 

Union. All together it contains only about sixty-seven 
thousand square miles. It is not so big as Missouri, and 
is less than one fourth as large as Texas. 

The shores of New England were visited by John Cabot 
and other explorers not long after Columbus found the 
New World. Captain John Smith sailed along them, made 
a rough map of the coast in 16 14, and named the region 
New England. Before that it had been called North Vir- 
ginia. 

The soil of New England is such that many of its people 
can make more money in other ways than by farming. 
A large part of the land is mountains. The Appalachian 
Highlands extend through it, and the only very fertile spots 
are to be found in the valleys of the rivers, and in the 
narrow strip of Atlantic plain which runs along the coast. 
Much of Maine is covered with forests and lakes, and some 
of the land in other New England states is so stony that 
it can be used only for the rearing of cattle and sheep. 
More than half the food consumed in this part of our 
country comes from the Mississippi valley. The New 
England winters are long and cold, and the ground is 
often covered with snow for months at a time. 

One might think that this would be one of the poorest 
parts of the United States, that few people could live 
there, and that those who manage to exist would have 
very little wealth indeed. But the truth is that New Eng- 
land has very great wealth and the southern portion of it 
is the most thickly settled part of our country. There is 
no other state with so many inhabitants in proportion 
to its size as Rhode Island. Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts have hundreds of cities and villages. There are few 
other places in the world where men live so well. The New 
Englanders have more wealth than the people of any 



NEW ENGLAND . 99 

other section of the same size in the United States; and 
Massachusetts alone has enough to buy some of the western 
states that are ten times its size. 

How does this come to pass? New England has only 
three small navigable rivers, although it has many good 
harbors giving all parts of it easy access to the sea. It has 
no gold, silver, or iron mines, and no large coal fields like 
Pennsylvania. The secret lies partly in the large number 
and peculiar character of the New England rivers. Each 
has a nearly constant flow of water, a rapid fall, and a 
narrow valley, conditions which make its water power 
easily available. Since they began to flow, the land has 
sunk a little, and allowed the sea to invade their mouths, 
so that each stream flows into a deep tidal inlet which makes 
a good harbor. To this must be added the position of 
New England directly opposite the shores of Europe, 
and nearer to them than any other part of the United 
States. The sturdy, enterprising, and thrifty people who 
settled New England were not slow to avail themselves 
of these ideal conditions for manufacture and commerce. 

Water power is the cheapest of all powers. It is used to 
generate electricity, and a great part of our manufacturing 
is done by it. One little stream will often do the work of 
a hundred horses. Indeed, it is estimated that we have so 
much water power in our country that if we used the whole 
of it, it would be stronger than several hundred million 
horses all pulling at once. 

The New England states have rivers and streams which 
might furnish a half million horsepower, and it has a large 
part of this water power already at work. To do one 
horsepower of work for one year by a steam engine requires 
about ten tons of coal, so that the half million horsepower, 
which New England might generate by water, is equal to 




100 



NEW ENGLAND MANUFACTURES loi 

five million tons of coal every year. New England has 
no black coal, but this white coal comes from a mine that 
will never give out. It is like the magic pitcher of the 
fairy tale. You may drink the contents, but the pitcher 
fills up as fast as you can swallow. 

When the people of New England learned that it was 
hard to get a living from the soil, they began to manufacture 
and soon found they could earn more money in that way 
than by farming. They became so skillful that they could 
make goods cheaply and well. As our country grew they 
built more and more factories. They began to use their 
waterfalls and they found also that they could bring in 
coal from Pennsylvania at low cost, so that now in most 
parts of New England there are factories operated by 
steam, in addition to those run by water. 

It is wonderful how many things come from New Eng- 
land. Nearly every one of us has now in use one or more 
of its products. Many kinds of cotton goods are made 
here, and we may visit huge mills which are weaving 
ginghams, muslins, calicoes, and other dress goods from 
the raw cotton of our southern states. In other places 
mills are making sheets, towels, and handkerchiefs, as well 
as yam and thread and underwear of various kinds. The 
cotton is brought in great bales of five hundred pounds 
each upon ships from Galveston, New Orleans, and other 
parts of the South. By machinery it is spun into thread 
and woven into cloth. 

The power of the Merrimac, the Connecticut, and 
other rivers applied to such weaving and other manufac- 
turing has built up many cities, such as Nashua and Man- 
chester in New Hampshire; Fall River, New Bedford, 
Lowell, and Lawrence in Massachusetts; and Pawtucket 
and Providence in Rhode Island. These cities are devoted 



I02 NORTH AMERICA 

largely to making cottons. Manchester weaves sixty 
miles of cloth an hour, five hundred miles a day, and about 
one hundred and fifty thousand miles in one year. This 
would be enough to carpet a wide road running clear 
around the world at the equator. Fall River and New 
Bedford, in Massachusetts, weave more cotton cloth than 
any other places in the United States. There are more 
than three million spindles in the New Bedford mills, and 
more than four million in the Fall River mills. Fall River 
has thirty-five thousand workers in its cotton mills. 

There are also many cotton mills in the South, and huge 
factories are now working close to the plantations on 
which the cotton is grown. 

More than half of the woolens of the United States are 
made in New England, and those annually woven in 
Massachusetts alone would equal a strip a yard wide and 
long enough to go more than two and one half times around 
the world at the equator. Some of the largest mills are 
at Lawrence on the Merrimac River. The first woolen 
mill of America was started in Hartford, Connecticut, 
and when George Washington was inaugurated President 
he wore a suit made of cloth woven in that mill. 

So many of our boots and shoes are manufactured in 
Massachusetts that tens of millions of our people may 
be said to have a part of that state under their feet. Two 
out of every five Americans are shod with Massachusetts 
leather. The city of Brockton is famous for men's shoes, 
Lynn for women's shoes, and Haverhill (ha' ver-il) for 
slippers. Brockton makes twenty million pairs of shoes 
in one year. Most of our army shoes for the World War 
were made in New England, where one single factory 
turned out fifty thousand pairs in one day. 

Connecticut not only tells us when to get up in the 



NEW ENGLAND MANUFACTURES 103 

morning, for it makes most of our clocks, but it also 
helps us to dress, for its factories produce tons of buttons, 
millions upon millions of hooks and eyes, and most of the 
pins that fasten our clothes. Waterbury in that state is 
the center of our brass goods industries, and Meriden is 
called the silver city because it makes plated ware. Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, has two hundred jewelry factories, 
and Wmchenden, Massachusetts, is called the Toy Town, 
because its people are busy making toys of all kinds. 
Beside the railway station is a huge wooden hobby horse, 
which has been erected as a sign of the industry. 

Massachusetts has some of the biggest paper mills of 
the United States. Holyoke turns out two hundred tons 
of fine paper daily, and at Dalton in the Berkshire Hills 
the paper for our bank notes and government bonds is 
made. This paper is carefully guarded that it may not 
get into the hands of counterfeiters, and men with rifles in 
their hands stand at the doors to keep out visitors. 

It is in this region that we can learn all about watches. 
Southern New England has hundreds of men and women 
working on such timepieces. The simplest watches have 
only about one hundred and fifty parts, and the more 
expensive ones several times that number. We are sur- 
prised at the care with which every part has to be made. 
As we go through the factories we see that the power from 
steam and water do only a small part of the work. Many 
men and women are required to run the machines and to 
perform certain other kinds of labor. Some of the steel 
screws of a watch look like grains of sand; they are so 
minute that it would take fifty thousand of them to fill 
an ordinary thimble. 

We are shown hair springs which require so much labor 
that five dollars' worth of steel wire after being made into 



I04 



NORTH AMERICA 



them is worth fifty thousand dollars. By this you can see 
how manufacturing supports a very large population. 

Another source of New England's wealth is its commerce. 
If you will look at the coast of Maine, you will see that it 
runs in and out almost like the teeth of a saw. It is called 

the ''State of One Hundred Har- 
bors." There are fine harbors in 
Massachusetts, and good landing 
places for ships all along the south 
coast of New England almost to 
New York. 

What industries do you think 
would be carried on along such 
a coast? 

There would be much ship- 
ping and many sailors. The boys, 
hearing the sea captains tell their 
adventures, would want to go 
to sea and become captains too. 
Well, this is just what has hap- 
pened. There are more than 
twelve thousand Maine men who 
are sailors, and many New Eng- 
enders are to be found in the 
navy. During my travels in Asia 
I found a Massachusetts sea cap- 
tain commanding a steamer on a 
Chinese river, and there are New 
England sailing vessels every- 
where. This part of our country 
has a large foreign commerce. 
Boston has forty miles of water front, and ships from all 
over the world. A great quantity of our goods are exported 





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NEW ENGLAND COMMERCE 



105 



to Europe and other countries through that port, and 
others of New England. The other chief seaports are 
Portland, Maine; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, all of which have excellent harbors. 
Many of our battleships, destroyers, and merchant vessels 
are made at Fore River, near Boston. 

New England is covered with steam railroads, electric 
trolleys, and good roads for tractors and automobiles. 
The chief railway system is the New York, New Haven and 
Hartford, extending from Boston to the west and south. 
The Boston and Albany, and the Boston and Maine, ex- 
tend from the city to the west and north. On the railroad 
which crosses the Hoosac Mountains, there is a tunnel five 
miles long, which aids in bringing Boston into direct com- 
munication with Chicago and the Mississippi valley. It 
enables much of our wheat and other products to be sent 
to Boston for export to Europe. The railroads of southern 
New England cover the country like a net, and an endless 
procession of freight trains passes over them carrying 
goods to the many harbors along the coast. 

Have you ever thought what a large part commerce has 
in our daily life? It has to do with every meal that we eat. 
At our hotel in New York we sat down to dinner before a 
mahogany table made from trees grown in the West Indies. 
Our tablecloth was woven from Irish flax, and our knives 
were of steel made of iron which was dug from the mines of 
Lake Superior, hundreds of miles to the westward. We 
drank coffee which had been imported from Brazil, and 
the sugar we put into it came from the cane fields of Cuba 
or Louisiana. Some of us drank chocolate, made of cacao 
beans shipped from South America to Boston, and ground 
up in a factory near by. We had a splendid cut of roast 
beef which six months ago was part of an animal galloping 

CARP. N. AMER. — 7 



io6 NORTH AMERICA 

madly over some western prairie with a cowboy behind him. 
We sprinkled it with salt from the salt wells of Michigan, 
and seasoned it with pepper from the island of Singapore, 
on the other side of the world. Our bread was of wheat, 
ground into flour at Minneapolis, and brought down the 
Great Lakes to be used in New York. The mince pie for 
dessert was filled with currants from Greece, while the 
three-cornered nuts with which we finished our meal were 
shaken from trees in the forests of the Amazon valley. 

We thus see how commerce and manufactures every- 
where go hand in hand. The factories of New England use 
enormous quantities of material which is brought here by 
ships from Asia, Europe, and South America, and we can 
find things from other parts of the world in almost every 
factory. 

Let us visit one of the shoemaking establishments of 
Lynn, Massachusetts. Some of the leather was imported 
from Russia; some of it came to Boston in the shape of 
hides from the cattle of the South American pampas, and 
some from those on the plains of Texas. We see skins which 
have just arrived from France, Germany, or England, and 
others which were shipped from India, China, or the penin- 
sula of Korea. 

It is in turning the skins into leather that manufacture 
first joins hands with commerce. The skins, when they 
land in New England, are much as they were when they 
came from the backs of the animals. They have to be 
tanned before they can be used. New England has over 
one thousand tanneries, where the skins are soaked for a 
long time in vats of water filled with tan bark brought 
from the forest regions of our country; or else subjected to 
the chrome process of tanning, where the skins are soaked 
in mineral and oil solutions. The latter process is used 



NEW ENGLAND MANUFACTURES 



107 



largely for shoe leather. Next the skins are scoured and 
dried, then greased in order to make them soft, and then 
covered with blacking, so that a single skin has to be 
handled many times before it is ready to be made into 
shoes. The nails, buttons, and strings used in shoemaking 
are made in separate factories and from materials which 
come from different localities. 

By machinery and by working together men can produce 
things more quickly and at a much less cost than when one 
man does all the work with his hands. In the shoe shops of 




Hand finishing department in a New England shoe factory. 

our forefathers one man made the whole shoe, and he 
probably thought he was doing well if he turned out a 
shoe in a day. There are machines in the shops of Ljoin 
that will sew six hundred pairs of shoes every eight hours, 



io8 NORTH AMERICA 

and some that will put pegs into the soles at the rate of 
nine hundred a minute. We find that each part of the shoe 
is made by a different machine, and that one man works 
upon certain parts only. 

All kinds of manufacturing are now done in this way. 
It takes many, many men to produce one piece of cloth; 
and if we should go to Bridgeport or Hartford, Connecticut, 
or to Providence or Newport, Rhode Island, or to Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, where there are large firearms fac- 
tories, we might see guns which have many parts, each 
part made by a different man. Many of the rifles, machine 
guns, automatic pistols, and other weapons used by our 
soldiers in the World War were made in New England. 

1. Bound New England. What country lies on the north? What 
state on the west? What New England states border the Atlantic 
Ocean? 

2. Name the New England states. Compare each state w^ith one 
other state of the Union. Compare the size of your state with each 
of the New England states, (See page 492.) Find the area of New 
England. What states of the Union exceed it in size? Which New- 
England state has the largest population? Why? 

3. Who visited the coast of New England before 1500? Who was 
John Smith? 

4. Name the five chief rivers of New England. Why do they fur- 
nish so much electric power? What are the advantages of water 
power? How much such power has New England? Compare its 
water power with that of the United States. With Canada. With 
several countries of Europe. (See table, page 495.) 

5. Mention some New England cities which make cotton cloth. 
Some which weave wool. Some which make shoes. Write a story of 
a cotton dress. Of a woolen blanket. (For further information as 
to each of these, see Carpenter's "How the World is Clothed.") 

6. From what town does the paper for our bank notes come? Why 
is it important to guard the factory where that paper is made? 
What town is devoted to toys? Name some places where guns are 
made; ships. 



NEW ENGLAND MOUNTAINS AND LAKES 109 

7. Why has New England become a great manufacturing center? 
A great commercial center? Name the three principal railway sys- 
tems. Show the part commerce has in our daily life. 



XIII. AMONG THE MOUNTAINS AND LAKES OF 
NEW ENGLAND 

WE shall spend a part of to-day among the mountains 
of New England. The Appalachians, which begin 
in northern Alabama and form the eastern rim of the 
Mississippi and St. Lawrence basins, extend northward 
through New England into Canada. They are made up of 
many parallel ranges, which, with their valleys, occupy a 
space about one hundred miles wide. The highest eleva- 
tions are to be found in North Carolina, but the most 
picturesque parts are in New England. The White Moun- 
tain region of New Hampshire is so beautiful that it has 
been called the Switzerland of America. 

The highest of the White Mountains is Mount Washing- 
ton. We can go in an ordinary train to the foot of this 
mountain, and from there to its surnmit over one of the 
oddest railroads in the world. The mountain is more than a 
mile high, and this railroad goes right up to its top. The 
track is so steep that it looks more like a ladder than a rail- 
road, and the cars at times are at such an angle that one 
might think they would slide to the bottom. 

This is prevented by an interesting device. The track 
has three rails instead of two, and the rail in the center 
consists of two bars of iron, with connecting crosspieces 
placed four inches apart throughout its whole length. The 
little locomotive has wheels which rest on the outer rails, 
and also a wheel with cogs which fit into this central rail, 



NEW ENGLAND MOUNTAINS AND LAKES in 

the cogs moving upon the crosspieces. The car in which we 
ride is in front of the engine, and the engine pushes rather 
than pulls us upward into the clouds. 

Upon fine days, such as the one we have for our journey, 
the car windows are open, so that we can see almost as 
well as if we were in an automobile. We sit with our backs 
to the summit, looking down the mountain; and as we rise 
we behold masses of cloud nestling in the hills below us. 
Nearer the top we pass through volumes of mist, and at 
the summit are enveloped in clouds. 

At last the sun clears the sky, and we enjoy the mag- 
nificent views to be had all about us. We can see the 
other mountains of the Presidential Range. There are 
Mount Adams, Mount Jefferson, and Mount Madison, all 
of which are more than a mile high; and near them are 
lesser mountains, named after Presidents Monroe and 
Jackson. From the summit we get a peep into Canada, and 
away off in the distance lies Mount Katahdin in Maine. 

Indeed, New England is one of the chief playgrounds of 
our country. In Maine alone there are more than ten 
million acres of wild forest in which to hunt, and two 
thousand fresh water lakes where one can fish. New 
Hampshire has more than half a million acres which are 
from one half mile to one mile above the sea, and the Atlan- 
tic coast, from Connecticut to Maine, is lined with seashore 
cottages. More than one hundred thousand tourists go 
every year to New England, and they spend more in one 
summer than we get in that time from Alaska's gold mines. 

We can have good fishing almost anywhere. There are 
trout streams in the mountains, and along the coast the 
fish swarm to such an extent that sea food is caught and 
exported to all parts of the United States. Boston markets 
ten million dollars' worth of fish in one year. 



112 NORTH AMERICA 

New England's fishing fleet numbers almost two thou- 
sand boats, many of which are sailing vessels known as 
schooners. They stay out at sea for a month or more at a 
time, bringing back cargoes of cod and other fish. The chief 
fishing grounds are on the Banks of Newfoundland, although 
some of the vessels go as far as Iceland and Greenland. 

In our travels through the mountains we shall see the 
wealth that New England has in its hills. We know that 
the streams flowing rapidly down them supply the water 
power which moves many of the factories in the lowlands. 
The mountains furnish also other things of value, although 
they have no great beds of coal and iron, such as are found 
in the Appalachian chain farther south. 

The stone of New England is worth a great deal of money. 
We find great quarries in Vermont, New Hampshire, 
Maine, and Massachusetts, in which granite is being 
blasted out with dynamite and cut into blocks to be shipped 
to all parts of our country. Many of our cities are paved 
with granite which has come from this region, and some of 
our public buildings are made of such stone. Almost half 
of all the marble used in our country comes from Vermont, 
although much is now being quarried in parts of Tennessee 
and Georgia. 

In visiting the various quarries we see that more care is 
used in getting out marble than in quarrying granite. The 
rough blocks are cut by a long strip of steel called a sand 
saw. A little groove is cut in the stone, and filled with 
sand. Then the steel strip is moved by machinery back 
and forth so that it rubs the sand in the crack against the 
marble, and the sand does the cutting. After the stones 
have been sawed into the proper shapes, they are carefully 
smoothed and polished. They are then ready for shipment, 
and are sent awav on cars. 



NEW ENGLAND MOUNTAINS AND LAKES 113 




Granite quarry. The cranes are used to lift out the blocks of 

stone. 

A great many slates are made at Bangor, Maine, and 
there we can see boys and girls attending the machines 
which turn out thousands of school slates and also the slate 
used for roofing. 

But there is something made in New England which every 
boy and girl is glad to get. I refer to maple sugar, which 
comes from the sap of the maple tree. The sap is gathered 
in the spring, after the first thaw, at which time it begins 
to move in the trees. Holes are then bored in the trunks 
not far above the ground, and wooden tubes are driven into 
them.^ Soon the sap begins to flow. It oozes from the 
trees into the tubes, and drop by drop falls into the buckets 
which are hung beneath them or placed at the foot of the 
trees. As the drops hang on the end of the tube they look 
just like water. Catch one of them upon your finger and 



114 



NORTH AMERICA 



taste it. It is sweet. The water in the bucket is called 
sugar water. 

After the buckets are filled, the sugar water is carried to 
the sugar house, where it is put into large kettles to be 
boiled. The water evaporates as the boiling goes on, and 
there is left a sirup which grows thicker and thicker. When 




Gathering sugar water from the buckets. 

it is thick enough for table use, a part is taken out and 
poured into cans. The rest is boiled still longer and is run 
off into molds, and as it cools it hardens into sugar. Farther 
on in our travels we shall visit Louisiana, where much of 
our cane sugar is made, and later California, Utah, and 
other states of the West where millions of tons of sugar 
are made from beets every year. 



BOSTON 115 

XIV. BOSTON 

WE have no trouble in going to Boston. It is the 
largest and wealthiest city of the northeastern sec- 
tion of our country. It has railroads to all parts of New 
England, and one of the best harbors of the Atlantic coast, 
a great bay protected by many islands. It has one of the 
largest piers in the world, so long that it can accommodate 
five great ocean steamers at one time. 

Boston is so situated that it forms an excellent port for 
the shipping of goods to and from other parts of the United 
States and also to and from South America and Europe. 
It is a day's sail nearer the chief ports of western Europe 
than New York, and is nearer Rio de Janeiro than New 
York, Philadelphia, Galveston, or New Orleans. There 
is much sea commerce between Boston and New York, 
and this has been increased by the Cape Cod Canal. This 
canal crosses the Cape Cod peninsula, shortening the dis- 
tance between Boston and New York by more than seventy 
miles, and enabling the ships to avoid going around Cape 
Cod, where within a period of fifty years more than twenty- 
five hundred vessels were wrecked, and eight hundred 
lives lost. 

The Cape Cod Canal is a sea-level canal. It is eight miles 
long, thirty-five feet deep, and one hundred feet wide at 
the bottom. It forms a part of the Atlantic Intra-Coastal 
Waterway, an inland passage which, when completed, will 
extend from Boston south through New Jersey, Delaware, 
Maryland, and other states of our Atlantic coast. 

The harbor and landing facilities of Boston allow the 
materials for manufacturing to be brought in so cheaply 
that it has become a great commercial city. It is the chief 
wool market of the United States, our largest fish market, 




i6 



BOSTON 117 

and in or near it are the principal leather, shoe, and shoe 
machinery centers, the leading textile and chocolate in- 
dustries of our country, and the largest candy factories of 
the world. Boston has more than one hundred thousand 
persons working in its industrial establishments. It has 
about seven hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants; a 
million more live within a few miles of its center, and three 
and one half millions are within two hours' ride by rail. 

As we step from the cars the streets seem even more 
crowded than they were in New York. The railroad station 
covers more than eleven acres, and over four hundred 
trains go in and out of it every day. The city has surface 
and elevated railways, and also underground roads, which 
carry several hundred millions of passengers each year. 

We first visit the old business section. Here the town 
seems cramped, and the streets are narrow and crooked, 
although within the past few years many millions of dol- 
lars have been spent in widening and straightening them. 
The buildings are high, and between Washington Street 
and Boston Common they contain so many people that they 
make us think of enormous boxes divided into compart- 
ments packed with men carrying on different kinds of 
work. 

We spend some time on Boston Common. This is a 
beautiful park of forty-eight acres in the heart of the city, 
which is considered one of the finest playgrounds in the 
United States. Boston Common is shaded by old elm 
trees, and at one side of it is a great oblong building whose 
golden dome may be seen from almost every part of the 
city. That is the statehouse, where the governor of Mas- 
sachusetts has his offices and the legislature meets every 
year to make laws for the state. In the center of the Com- 
mon is the Frog Pond, about which the boys play in the 



Ii8 NORTH AMERICA 

summer, and at the lower end is a place where hundreds 
of pigeons fly down every day to be fed. 

During our tour about the city we pass other fine parks 
containing tennis courts, golf grounds, baseball diamonds, 
and open-air gymnasiums. We are told that Boston has 
more public playgrounds than London, Paris, Berlin, or 
New York. It has many beautiful streets. Common- 
wealth Avenue, for instance, is almost one hundred feet 
wider than Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, and 
through its center runs a park of trees, among which are 
footpaths. There are fine residences on both sides of the 
avenue, and at night, when the street is lighted with four 
rows of lamps, and the automobiles of rich Bostonians are 
passing to and fro upon it, it presents a splendid sight. 

The Bostonians have always been noted for their culture 
and learning. Their city is called the Athens of America, 
and some of our best-loved authors have come from here. 
Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote ''The Wonder Book" 
and ''Tanglewood Tales," lived many years at Salem, 
near Boston, and was once employed in the Boston 
Customhouse; Prescott, the blind historian, the author 
of ''The Conquest of Mexico," lived in the city; and Ban- 
croft, Longfellow, Lowell, and Holmes resided at Cam- 
bridge, near by. The city has large book stores and pub- 
lishing houses, and its libraries and museums are among 
the best to be found anywhere. It has musical, scientific, 
and other schools, as well as several large colleges. At 
Cambridge we visit Harvard University, which has now 
about nine hundred teachers and more than seven thou- 
sand students. It is our oldest university, having been 
founded in 1636, or more than sixty years before the open- 
ing of Yale at New Haven, Connecticut. 

Yale and Harvard were for a long time the most famous 




Part of the Massachusetts Statehouse, facing Boston Common. 







fc^..- -^ 



Boston is noted for its fine playgrounds, 
119 



I20 NORTH AMERICA 

of our colleges; but to-day there are good schools and 
colleges in every part of the United States. 

It was in Cambridge that General Washington took 
command of the army of the Revolution. This was on the 
third of July, 1775. Boston was then in the hands of the 
British, but General Washington took it about eight months 
later. We can visit Dorchester Heights, where Washing- 
ton put his cannon during the last of the siege. From these 
heights he could lire upon the city and at the ships in the 
harbor, and thus he forced the British to leave. 

New England people have always been noted for their 
bravery. Everywhere in Boston we see things which re- 
mind us of the stirring times of the past, when it took real 
courage to be a true American citizen. Let us ride out to 
the Bunker Hill Monument. It stands on the site where 
the Americans fought the British so bravely before Wash- 
ington came. This section of Boston is now thickly settled, 
but the monument marks the place of the battle. It is a 
shaft of granite, the corner stone of which was laid by 
General Lafayette in 1825. There are steps inside it by 
which we can walk to the top and look over the city. On 
the ground below us we see the statue of Colonel William 
Prescott, who commanded the Americans that day. It 
represents him as he looked when the British were coming, 
and when he held back his men until they could do the 
most damage, saying: "Don't fire till I tell you! Don't 
fire till you see the whites of their eyes!" 

Later on, as we stroll along the wharves of the harbor, 
we think of the famous Boston tea party, when fifty of the 
men and boys of the town, disguised as Indians, ran yelling 
down to these wharves, and, boarding the British ships 
which were loaded with tea for America, emptied the chests 
of tea into the water. 



BOSTON 121 

The British government had said that Americans must 
pay taxes upon imported tea, but the Americans claimed 
that the British government had no right to tax them with- 
out their consent. Hence for a long time they refused to 
drink tea, or to wear any kind of goods from England. 
They decided to dress in clothes made in America, and to 
drink tea of sage, sassafras roots, and other American 
plants. The Boston tea party helped to bring on the 
Revolutionary War, which began as a struggle between 
parties in the British Empire and ended with the inde- 
pendence of the United States. 

We next visit the old North Church, in the steeple of 
which the lanterns were hung that night when the British 
soldiers started out on their march to Concord. The lan- 
terns warned the patriots across the river that the British 
were coming. This signal had been planned by Paul 
Revere, who so bravely carried the news from Boston to 
Lexington. Longfellow's poem tells how Revere sprang to 
his saddle, and then there was — 

"A hurry of hoofs in the village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet; 

That was all! and yet through the gleam and the light 

The fate of a nation was riding that night ; 

And the spark struck out by that steed in its flight 

Kindled the land into flame with its heat. . . . 

You know the rest. In the books you have read 

How the British regulars fired and fled, — 

How the farmers gave them ball for ball. 

From behind each fence and farmyard wall; 

Chasing the redcoats down the lane, 

Then crossing the field to emerge again 

Under the trees at the turn of the road, 

And only pausing to fire and load. 

CARP. N. AMER. — 8 



122 NORTH AMERICA 

''So through the night rode Paul Revere; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, 

And a word that shall echo for evermore! 

For, borne on the night wind of the past 

Through all our history, to the last, 

In the hour of darkness and peril and need 

The people shall waken and listen to hear 

The hurrying hoof beats of that steed, 

And the midnight message of Paul Revere." 

There are many places about Boston v^hich will always 
be noted in the history of our country. Plymouth, where 
the Pilgrims landed from the Mayflower after they had 
crossed the ocean, is only thirty miles away. We reach it 
by automobile in but Httle more than an hour. It has 
about ten thousand people, and one hundred thousand 
tourists visit it every year. As we look at its comfortable 
homes we cannot realize the hardships our forefathers 
suffered during their first winter in New England. The 
Mayflower came into the harbor at Plymouth on a cold 
December day in the year 1620. She had just one hundred 
passengers. Most of them, on account of their religion, 
had been driven from England to Holland, and had now 
come to America that they might be able to worship God 
in their own way. They stepped from their boat upon a 
great stone, which has become famous as Plymouth Rock, 
and is now honored by all New England people. 

From the time of their landing, the Pilgrims were in 
great fear of the Indians. They had no houses at first, 
and in the rude huts which they put up they suffered such 
privations that more than half of them died within less 
than a year. 



BOSTON 123 

We find many relics of these times in Pilgrim Hall. 
Here is the very sword which Miles Standish, the chief 
soldier of the colony, used in his fights with the Indians; 
and, even more interesting, the cradle in which the first 
white child born in New England was rocked. This cradle 
is a Httle wicker affair with rockers of wood. It is much 
like a basket with a sort of hood at the back. As we look, 
we can see in our imagination poor little Peregrine White', 
for that was the baby boy's name, crying in it all alone; 
and we can realize somewhat the extent to which our 
country has grown when we learn that now more than two 
million American babies are born every year. 

1. Locate the Appalachian Highlands. Through what states do 
they extend? Describe our trip to Mount Washington. 

2. Locate Cape Cod Bay. Buzzards Bay. What canal joins them? 

3. Describe New England as a national playground. What ad- 
vantage are good roads to a country? 

4. From what section do we get most of our maple sugar? How 
IS It made? What other kinds of sugar do we make? (See Carpenter's 
"How the World is Fed," pages 328-345.) 

5. Tell how granite and marble are cut. What famous marble 
quarries has Italy? (See Carpenter's "Europe.") 

6. Locate Boston. Take a trip to it from your home, naming the 
cities through which you pass. Why is it called the Athens of Amer- 
ica? Name several historical events which happened there. 

7. What advantages has Boston as a seaport? Compare it with 
New York. Trace a cargo of wool from Argentina to Boston By 
two routes from Melbourne, Australia. Trace a shipload of anthracite 
by the shortest sea route from New York. Of bituminous coal 
from Norfolk. Of cacao beans from Guayaquil, Ecuador. 

8. Why is Plymouth Rock of special interest to New England^ 
Who were the Puritans? Our Pilgrim Fathers? What poet has 
written much about them? Where did he live? 

9. Where are the world's greatest candy factories? Trace a cake 
of chocolate from the cacao bean to the confectioner's store. (See 
Carpenter's "How the World is Fed," page 317.) 




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ATLANTIC STATES 

AND 

CENTRAL STATES 

SCALE OF MILES 

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126 NORTH AMERICA . 

XV. THE SOUTHERN STATES— FROM BOSTON 
TO NORFOLK BY STEAMER 

WE leave New England to-day. We are going to 
travel through our southern states. We are bound 
for the lands of the sun. The southern states embrace 
nearly one fourth of all the land under Uncle Sam's flag. 
They number sixteen, and most of them are large. Texas 
is four times as big as New England, with thousands of 
square miles to spare. Kentucky is about five times as large 
as Massachusetts. The rich farms of Oklahoma exceed in 
area those of Illinois or Iowa. Alabama is larger than 
Pennsylvania, and Tennessee is larger than Ohio. 

This section is one of enormous resources. It contains 
our chief cotton and tobacco lands, and in some years it 
produces one third of our corn. It has mighty forests, 
with thousands of sawmills at work. It has rich mines of 
iron, and its coal fields supply a large part of our fuel. 
The Appalachian Mountains of the South have waterfalls 
with millions of undeveloped horsepower, and the oil fields 
of Texas and Oklahoma produce a large part of the gasoline 
which runs our automobiles and motor trucks, as well as 
the fuel oil employed in our industries, and the kerosene 
which lights many homes. 

The South is the great winter market garden for the 
large cities and towns of the North. It produces more 
than a half billion dollars' w^orth of fruit and vegetables 
every year. A vast trucking industry is carried on in the 
lowlands along the coast from Virginia to the Mexican 
border. 

There are good steamers from New York and Boston to 
our southern ports, and we might take a ship for Charleston, 
Savannah, Jacksonville, New Orleans., or Galveston, but we 



NORFOLK 127 

decide to stop first at Norfolk, Virginia. Steaming out of 
Boston harbor, we sail about Cape Cod, along the Atlantic 
coast, past New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, to the 
mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Much of the time we are out 
of sight of land, and it is two days before we see the lights 
of Cape Charles, and pass over what is known as Hampton 
Roads to the mouth of the James River. 

Here on our left is the thriving seaport of Norfolk, and 
upon our right, beyond the wharves, grain elevators, and 
shipyards of Newport News, is Old Point Comfort, where 
the first settlers of the Virginia colony landed when they 
arrived in America from England in 1607, thirteen years 
before the Pilgrims stepped out on Plymouth Rock. Cap- 
tain John Smith was one of them. They stayed here for 
a time, near where the little town of Hampton now is, 
and then sailed up the James River and founded James- 
town. 

It was at Hampton that the Virginia colonists first met 
the Indians. There are Indians at Hampton now, but we 
find them more friendly than those who greeted John 
Smith. Those Indians were half -naked redskins, with 
paint on their bodies, feathers on their heads, and scalping 
knives in their belts. The Indians we see belong to the 
large college at Hampton, where boys and girls from the 
tribes of the West come to school. They are taught English ^ 
and learn to lead civilized lives. The boys learn trades and 
the girls learn how to cook, sew, and keep house. They 
dress as we do, and were it not for their copper-colored 
skins, black hair, and high cheek bones, we should not 
know they belonged to the red race. 

What a great number of colored people we see! 

We are now in Virginia, where the land, like that of the 
states farther south, was once divided into great plantations 



NORFOLK 129 

worked by negroes as slaves. These dark-skinned people 
belong to a different race from the whites. The first of 
them were brought by force from Africa and were kept in 
slavery until freed by the great Civil War between the 
North and the South. After the war was over most of the 
colored people stayed in the South, and in two of the south- 
ern states, South Carolina and Mississippi, there are now 
more negroes than whites. There are so many of them in 
the United States that they make up nearly one tenth of 
our whole population. 

Our colored people are rapidly advancing in education 
and wealth. Hundreds of thousands of them own their 
homes, and among them are farmers and all sorts of me- 
chanics, also writers, lawyers, doctors, and bankers. There 
are almost two million negro children in our public schools, 
and there are several hundred colleges where colored 
students are taught. Hundreds are being educated at the 
Hampton Institute here. 

Norfolk is the chief port of Virginia, and Newport News, 
across Hampton Roads, is one of our chief shipbuilding 
centers. Both places have deep water and the largest of 
the ocean steamships can come to their wharves. Much of 
the coal of Virginia and West Virginia is sent to Norfolk for 
shipment, about twenty million tons being exported each 
year. Norfolk is a great lumber port, and from the marker 
farms and gardens surrounding it, many shiploads and 
trainloads of fruit and vegetables are sent north. The 
export of oysters and other sea food caught in Chesapeake 
Bay amounts to millions of dollars per annum. 

This region is interesting historically. Not far away is 
Williamsburg, once the capital of Virginia, where Thomas 
Jefferson, James Madison, ^nd other great men of our 
colonial times went to school at William and Mary College, 



I30 NORTH AMERICA 

which was founded a few years before Yale. Yorktown, 
where Lord Cornwallis and his British army surrendered 
to Washington in 1781, can be reached by automobile 
from Newport News in two hours, and as we stand on 
the wharves we can see where the great battle between 
the Monitor and the Merrimac was fought in 1862. We 
can read more about all of these events in our histories. 

There is another little thing that may not seem impor- 
tant to us, but which is very important to Norfolk. This 
is the peanut. Norfolk has long been one of the chief 
peanut markets of the world, and most of the peanuts we 
buy on the street stands are shipped from here. When 
you bite into a peanut you may be pretty sure you are 
biting into a piece of Norfolk. So many peanuts are raised 
in our country in one year that if they were equally divided, 
every person in the land might have a half bushel and leave 
some to spare. 

Peanuts are grown also in other parts of Virginia, and 
largely in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and 
Texas. Some of these states give prizes for the best crop 
of peanuts raised by a member of the peanut clubs formed 
by the children. Not long ago the Texas prize was won 
by a girl of fourteen. She raised two hundred and thirty 
bushels of nuts and had more than two tons of peanut 
hay from one acre of ground. The prize was three hundred 
dollars in cash, and in addition she had the profit from the 
sale of the nuts and hay. 

During our stay at Norfolk we learn how peanuts are 
raised. They are sometimes called ground peas, for they 
grow underground. The nuts are first shelled, the farmers 
being careful not to break the little red skins on the ker- 
nels, and are then planted like potatoes or corn. It takes 
about two bushels of nuts to furnish the seed for an acre, 




Teanut field. The plants are stacked up to dry. 




Peanut plant. The nuts grow in clusters just above the roots. 

131 



132 NORTH AMERICA 

and this will produce, according to the richness of the 
soil, from twenty to one hundred bushels. 

The planting is done in May, and soon after the little 
green vines . peep forth from the ground. They spread 
over the hills, sending out little stalks which blossom and 
finally run down into the soil, with the seed pods on them. 
The seeds are peanuts. 

In the fall the nuts are ready to harvest, and the vines 
are dug up, and stacked around poles seven feet high, 
with the nuts hanging to them. About two weeks later 
the nuts are picked by women and children. 

After this the nuts are cleaned in machines and sorted 
by women and children, who pick out the bad ones as the 
nuts pass by them on a moving belt about a yard wide. 
The peanuts are then put into bags and shipped to all 
parts of the world. 



XVI. UP THE JAMES RIVER— THE TOBACCO 
INDUSTRY 

FROM Norfolk we go by steamer up the James River 
to Richmond, the capital of Virginia. The land 
along the banks is low, and as we look at the rich farms 
on both sides of us, we can imagine how happy Captain 
John Smith and his company felt when they saw the rich 
vegetation as they sailed over the same river, more than 
three hundred years ago. We soon reach the Httle island 
where they stopped and began building what they thought 
was to be the great city of the New World. 

This was Jamestown, or, as they called it, James City. 
It was the chief settlement in Virginia when Virginia 
included our whole eastern coast from Maine to Georgia. 



UP THE JAMES RIVER 133 

There is nothing like a city at Jamestown to-day. All 
we can see are a few graves and the church with its ivy- 
covered tower. The church is new, and was built recently 
to take the place of the original structure, but the tower 
is the one that was put up by the Jamestown colonists. 
Not a man is in sight. The only signs of Hfe are some 
sheep eating grass near by, and the only sound is the 
croaking of a frog. 

The Jamestown colony had a worse time than the 
Plymouth colony. The Indians fought the white men, 
hiding in the woods about the little settlement, and killing 
those who ventured out. During one of the Indian sieges 
of Jamestown the colonists could get nothing to eat, and 
were forced to feed upon dogs, horses, and all sorts of 
reptiles, such as snakes and toads. That was when the 
settlement had grown to five hundred by the landing of 
more ships from England. The period was known as the 
Starving Time; and when it ended with the arrival of a 
shipload of provisions, only sixty out of the five hundred 
were alive. At one time the colony was saved by the food 
brought in by the Indian princess Pocahontas, the girl 
who saved the life of John Smith. 

One would think that with such troubles the English 
would have given up trying to settle America. The colonists 
failed to find any gold, but the land proved to be rich, and 
as time went on, tobacco raising became profitable. 

We do not think it is good for men to use tobacco. Never- 
theless it is one of our most valuable crops, and we decide 
to go south from Richmond to visit the plantations and 
learn how it is raised. 

No one in Europe knew anything about tobacco until 
Columbus discovered America. Like maize or Indian 
corn, and the potato and tomato, the tobacco plant was 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 135 

first found on our hemisphere. Among the stories which 
the explorers of these early days told when they returned 
to Europe, was how the Indians ate fire and breathed the 
smoke from their nostrils. Many of the travelers learned 
to use pipes, and to smoke as the Indians did. They in- 
troduced the custom into Europe, and it became fashionable. 

Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the first smokers in 
England. One day, it is said, when he was puffing away 
at his pipe, a new servant came in with a pitcher of ale in 
his hand. When he saw the smoke coming out of Raleigh's 
nose he thought his master was burning up, and threw the 
ale over him to put the fire out. Raleigh had sent several 
expeditions to America, and Ralph Lane, the captain of 
one of these, brought some tobacco home with him. 

At one time the Virginia colonists used tobacco as money, 
so that the people took it to the store to buy sugar, tea, 
and other things for their tables. Tobacco is now grown 
to a large extent not only in Virginia, but also in Kentucky, 
North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Maryland. 
Some kinds are raised in Ohio and Wisconsin. Connecticut 
makes the best wrappers for cigars, while Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, and Wisconsin produce fillers, or the material inside 
the wrappers. The southern states make most of the 
chewing tobacco and snuff. 

We now produce about three fifths of all the tobacco 
used by man, our chief competitors being British India 
and several of the countries of Europe. 

We shall see tobacco fields everywhere as we ride south- 
ward through Virginia and North Carolina. The plants 
have leaves much like those of cabbages, but they are 
longer and smoother, dark green, and spaced apart on 
the stalk. The stalks are as big around as our thumbs, 
and some are so tall that we could use them for canes. 




136 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 137 

The planting is done in seed beds in the spring. After 
a short time the little green sprouts come up, looking 
much like cabbage plants. They are now taken up and 
set out in hills, four thousand plants to the acre. They 
are carefully cultivated throughout the summer and are 
harvested in the fall. As the plants ripen the leaves be- 
come yellow. At this time the tobacco farmer cuts off the 
stalks close to the earth and hangs them on sticks which 
are stuck in the ground. In some places he strips the 
leaves from the stalks and strings them on wires. 

The leaves must be cured before they can be sold. This 
is done in tobacco barns. Some of them are little wooden 
cabins without windows, in each of which is a stove with 
flues or pipes that run through the barn. The leaves are 
hung up in the barn, and the place is kept as hot as an oven, 
day and night, until they are just right for the market. In 
some other localities the crop is cured in a different way, 
without the use of stoves; and in some places the tobacco 
is raised under great tents, hundreds of acres being shaded 
with white cotton cloth. Such cultivation often costs 
more than one thousand dollars per acre. 

We stop for a few days in Richmond. It is situated on 
the James River, one hundred and thirty-seven miles from 
the ocean. The stream here has a fall of one hundred feet 
in six miles, furnishing much water power; and as the city 
nas also cheap coal, it is a great industrial center. 

We motor about Richmond, visiting the parks, the old 
capitol building, the former residences of Chief Justice 
Marshall and of General Lee, and take a look at the many 
statues which commemorate Virginia's historic past. The 
state was the birthplace of eight Presidents, although all 
did not live here at the time of their election. It was in 
Richmond that the Confederate States had their capital 



138 



NORTH AMERICA 




Statue of General Robert E. Lee in Richmond. The city is noted for 
its fine parks and monuments. 

during our great Civil War. It was here, in St. John's 
Episcopal Church, that Patrick Henry sounded one of the 
watchcries of the Revolution in his famous speech, closing 
with the words, ''Give me liberty or give me death!" 

1. Make a sketch map of the southern states. Which is the largest? 
The smallest? What great mountain chain runs through some of 
them? What great plain? Which state is a peninsula? Name the 
five principal rivers. Which state has the longest seacoast? Which 
have no seacoast? 

2. Locate Norfolk and Jamestown. Compare Jamestown with 
Plymouth, telling all you can about the two colonies. 

3. Who was John Smith? Pocahontas? Tell the story of the life 
of each. 

4. What schools do we find at Hampton? Mention some of the 
exports of Norfolk. Why is it a great port? 



IN THE LAND OF COTTON 



139 



5. What nut forms an important crop of the South? Where does 
it grow best? Bring one to class, and let it tell the story of its Hfe 
and the industry. 

6. Describe our tobacco industry. Why is it important to our 
country? What other plants of note originated in America? 

7. Locate Richmond. Take a trip through it and tell what you see. 
What Presidents were born in Virginia? 



XVII. IN THE LAND OF COTTON 



LEAVING the tobacco lands of Virginia, we move on 
-/ farther south, and soon find ourselves in the land 
of cotton. The cotton belt of the United States begins in 
North and South Carolina, and runs through Georgia, 
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and 
Oklahoma. A good idea of it can be gained by looking at 
the map. Of all the 
states, Texas pro- 
duces the most cot- 
ton, its annual yield 
being about one 
fourth of the crop. 
Much cotton comes 
also from irrigated 
places in the arid 
lands of California The cotton belt, 

and Arizona. This is of a very fine staple, and is used 
largely in the making of motorcar tires. 

Do you realize how important the cotton crop is to our 
country? 

It is so valuable that if all the gold dug from the mines of 
the whole earth in one ye.ar were put into one pile, and the 



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IN THE LAND OF COTTON 141 

cotton annually shipped to Europe were stacked up beside 
it, the cotton pile would be far the more valuable. A bale 
of cotton is about two or three feet square and five feet in 
length. Laid end to end, the bales we make in one year 
would extend tv/ice as far as the distance from the planta- 
tions to China. Loaded upon cars at forty bales to the car, 
they would fill a soUd train reaching from Cape Cod to 
Puget Sound, and on a long way toward Alaska. 

We usually produce over half, and in some years three 
fourths, of all the cotton grown upon earth, so that we 
furnish the cotton cloth for the greater part of mankind. 
There are yellow people in Asia, black people in Africa, 
brown people in the Philippines, red Indians in South 
America, and white people in Europe, all clad in our cottons. 
The sewing of the world is done with cotton thread, our 
common clothes are cotton, and at night we sleep between 
cotton sheets. 

But why does the United States produce so much more 
cotton than any other land? 

It is because we have the conditions best fitted for that 
crop. Cotton requires a good soil and a season of seven or 
more months without frost and with not too much moisture. 
This is found in the cotton belt, and especially in a string 
of little islands off the Atlantic coast of South Carohna and 
Georgia. Upon those islands is grown our sea-island cotton, 
one of the best varieties known to man. Here the plants 
are much larger than those of other parts of our country. 
The ripe cotton shines like satin, and its fibers are longer 
than those grown in other regions. 

Have you ever seen a cotton plantation? 

When the cotton is ripe, it is one of the most beautiful 
sights of the world. The plants are about as high as your 
waist, and shining out on the brown and green background 

CARP. N. AMER. — 9 



142 NORTH AMERICA 

of the bushes, are many white bunches that look like soft 
balls of snow. 

We pass many such fields in our travels. They are dotted 
with pickers. Negro men and women walk through the 
rows, pulling the white lint from the stalks and putting it 
into bags or baskets. They sing as they work, and their 
rich, soft voices float into the car windows as we ride by. 

At the stations are piles of cotton bales waiting to be 
shipped to the factories of New England or to other parts 
of the country. Some will go to the seaports, where they 
will be rebaled and exported to Europe. Every little farm- 
house we pass has one or more bales in its yard. Upon the 
country roads we see motor trucks and wagons filled with 
freshly picked cotton on its way to the gin, where the seeds 
must be taken out before it can be sold. 

But let us visit one of the great cotton plantations of 
South Carolina. We are now in a field which is not yet 
ripe. It is filled with green bushes, upon which are the 
bolls containing the cotton. The largest bolls are about the 
size of a walnut with the hull on. Farther over is a field 
where the bolls are cracking open and the green bushes seem 
dusted with white. That cotton is almost ripe, and it will 
soon be ready for picking. 

Look farther on. There is a spot where the soil must be 
richer. The bolls on the lower branches are open, and 
great tufts of white hang out as if ready to drop into the 
hands of the pickers. The bolls on the higher branches are 
still closed. 

Let us go into that ripening field and examine the cotton. 
We pull some bunches of white from the bolls. They come 
out so easily they almost fall into our hands. What are the 
hard little things we feel inside the soft lint? Let us pick it 
apart and see. Those are the cotton seeds. They are black 




A branch of cotton ready for picking. 




Cotton bolls fully ripe. 
143 



144 NORTH AMERICA 

or dark brown and as big as the seeds of a lemon. They 
must all be removed before the cotton is sold. We shall 
see how tliis is done later on. 

It is from such seeds that the cotton plants grow. The 
farmer tells us that his seed was planted in April, in rows 
of hills about three feet apart. He says the sprouts soon 
came through the soil, and that by the middle of June the 
field was filled with green plants upon which were beautiful 
flowers. As they burst into bloom they were white; the 
next day they turned red, and looked like roses. They 
soon dropped off, however, and the bolls of cotton ap- 
peared. The bolls do not crack open until they are ripe, 
and it is then only that the white fibers show. 

From what we have seen we know that the bolls do not 
all ripen at once. For this reason the pickers have to go 
over a field many times. In Texas and other parts of the 
far South the harvesting season begins in July. Farther 
north it is later, and in Georgia, South Carolina, and parts 
of Texas some of the cotton is often on the stalks at Christ- 
mas. 

After picking, the cotton is carried to the gin. There Is 
a wagonload now. Let us jump in and go along with it. 
The negro driver is good-natured, and he laughs loudly 
as we drop down into the load of fleecy white. At the 
ginhouse we crawl out, covered with lint, and watch the 
men throw the cotton into a machine where it falls be- 
tween fine circular saws so arranged that the seeds can 
just pass between them. The lint is caught by the teeth 
of the saws and torn from the seeds, while the seeds drop 
below. 

Between the saws are stiff brushes which pull the cotton 
from the teeth and roll it out in a beautiful, fleecy sheet. 
As it drops on the floor at the side of the gin it looks like a 



IN THE LAND OF COTTON 



145 



drift of pure snow. The machines that do this work are 
the outcome of the invention of EH Whitney, a Massa- 
chusetts man, who made the first gin while teaching school 
in the South. Before that, the cotton was taken from the 
seeds by hand. Then one man could seed less than one 
pound a day, and it took him almost two years to seed a 
whole bale. Some of the gins will now turn out fifty or 
more bales in a day. 

As it comes from the gin the cotton is ready for baling. 
By this is meant packing it into such bundles as will take 
up the least space on the cars or ships upon which it is to 
be carried to the markets. This is done in huge presses 




Truck load of cotton on its way from the gin to the factory. The 
author in the foreground. 

which so squeeze the cotton together that a great quantity 
of it is pressed into a bale about two feet square and five 
feet in length. It is next wrapped with rough cloth much 
like coffee sacking, and bound with bands of hoop iron. 
The ordinary bale weighs from four hundred and fifty to 



146 NORTH AMERICA 

five hundred pounds. Its price varies in different parts 
of the world, according to the amount of the crop. 

But what becomes of the cotton seed? 

This is carefully saved. It is worth several hundred 
million dollars a year. A few years ago it was supposed 
to be worth nothing, and was burned or thrown away. 
Now it is used for making oil and other things. The seeds 
are ground, and the oil is pressed out. The crushed seeds 
are used for making an oil cake, for feeding cattle and 
other stock. The hulls of the seeds, which are taken off 
before pressing, are also used for feeding and as a fertilizer. 

Cottonseed oil is used in the making of soap. Much of 
it goes into patent butters, like oleomargarine; and a great 
deal, when purified, is sold as salad oil, taking the place 
of olive oil. It Is said that much of the olive oil sold in the 
United States is really cottonseed oil, and that cottonseed 
oil is sometimes shipped to Italy, where it is labeled olive 
oil and sent back to us. Many of the workmen in the oil 
mills use the oil to butter the bread which they take with 
them for lunch. They put the slices fresh cut from the loaf 
under the press, where the sweet, warm, fresh oil is trickling 
out. They tell us it tastes better than butter. 



o>»ic 



XVIII. IN A GREAT COTTON MILL 

WE shall visit one of the cotton factories this morn- 
ing, and see how the white Hnt is turned Into 
cloth. Until recent years all our great cotton mills were 
in New England. We saw many at Lowell, New Bedford, 
and Fall River in Massachusetts, Manchester in New Hamp- 
shire, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and we know that 



IN A GREAT COTTON MILL 147 

a large part of our cotton cloth is still made in New Eng- 
land. We find, however, that many cotton factories have 
been built in the South. There are large mills at Charlotte 
and Greensboro in North Carolina, at Spartanburg, Green- 
ville, and Columbia in South Carolina, at Atlanta and 
Augusta in Georgia, and at very many other places in 
different parts of the cotton belt. The cotton states have 
good water power, and the mills are so near the plantations 
that they can get the raw cotton very cheaply. A large 
part of the cotton goods of the United States is now woven 
in the South. 

The factory we visit is at Spartanburg, South Carofina. 
It is in a brick building of three stories, covering several 
acres. It contains many large rooms filled with interesting 
machinery, and hundreds of white men and women are at 
work in it. The cotton is taken almost directly from the 
gin to the factory. Suppose we follow a bale as it passes 
through one room after another, until it is turned into 
cloth. 

We first take some raw cotton out of the bale and pull 
it apart. What queer stuff it is! It is composed of thou- 
sands of little white hairs, so fine that several of them 
twisted together would not be as thick as one hair of your 
head. These little cotton hairs are called fibers. They 
are not so long as your finger, and they are so light that 
there are millions of them in a few pounds of cotton. Still, 
of these tiny hairs the strongest of thread and cloth are 
to be made. 

Our bale is first taken apart, and the cotton is thrown 
upon huge cylinders or rollers called openers, which pull 
the fibers apart. They are then passed through other 
rollers, the sharp teeth of which take out the dirt, so that 
when the cotton comes from them not a stick, a leaf, or a 




148 



IN A GREAT COTTON MILL 149 

grain of sand is left in it. It now feels soft and is whiter 
than when in the bale. 

The next process is carding. In this the cotton is run 
through rollers covered with wire teeth so fine that there 
are more than a score of them on a space as small as one's 
finger nail. These little teeth brush and comb the cotton 
as it goes through; they pull the tangled fibers apart and 
make them lie almost altogether one way, so that when they 
come out at the other end of the roller, they are a rope of 
cotton yarn as soft as down. It is of this rope that the 
thread is to be made. 

The rope is as big around as a broomstick. It seems 
enough for a dozen threads, but it is not enough to make 
one. It is doubled again and again as it goes through other 
machines which twist it finer and finer, until at last it is 
no thicker than a fishing line. It is still soft, however. An- 
other strand of the same size, twisted in the same way from 
another cotton rope, is now joined with it, and the two are 
twisted and retwisted by machinery until they are as small 
as the finest cotton thread used for sewing. This is the 
thread out of which the cloth is to be woven. 

As the thread comes from the machines some of it is 
rolled upon long spools, called spindles, by the mule spin- 
ner. This machine takes the place of the old spinning 
wheel, but it winds hundreds of spools at one time, a 
single machine doing as much work, perhaps, as in colo- 
nial days a thousand women could do. Some threads are 
wound upon rollers or beams of the width of the cloth to 
be made. These threads are the warp; they run length- 
wise in the cloth. 

The cross threads are called the woof or filling of the 
cloth. They are wound upon small bobbins, which are 
then thrown from one side of the cloth to the other. This 



I50 NORTH AMERICA 

is done in the shuttle, a wooden case which carries the woof 
thread back and forth through the warp threads at the rate 
of one hundred and fifty or more times a minute. This is 
called weaving. The machines with which the weaving 
is done are the looms. The machinery in the weaving 
rooms makes a great din, and the looms work so fast that 
thousands of yards of cloth are woven in one factory in 
a day. 

At Greensboro, North Carolina, we visit a mill which 
makes cloth for overalls only. Its yearly output is almost 
fifty million yards a yard wide. The output of one day 
would carpet a railroad track from New York to Phila- 
delphia, while that of a year, if it could be stretched over 
mountains and plains and oceans and rivers, would more 
than cover a path three feet wide reaching clear around 
the world at the equator. 

The rapid spinning and weaving are due to many inven- 
tions. The invention of the steam engine by James Watt, 
and discoveries in the uses of electricity by Faraday, Edi- 
son, Tesla, and others, had much to do with giving us the 
power now used in the mills, while the spinning jenny 
invented by Hargreaves, and the spinning frame invented 
by Arkwright, form the basis of the many improvements 
for turning the lint into cloth. 

We shall visit other mills as we go on with our journey; 
and at every large port we shall see ships taking on cotton 
for the factories of New England and Europe as well as for 
China, Japan, India, and South America. Those lands 
all raise more or^ess cotton, but our cotton is needed to 
mix with theirs, as the combination makes better cloth. 
By far the greater part of our raw cotton goes abroad, the 
exports bringing in hundred of millions of dollars a year. 
Our best customer is the United Kingdom of Great Britain 



IN A GREAT COTTON MILL 151 

and Ireland, which is the chief cotton- weaving country not 
only of Europe but of the whole world. After that come 
Germany and France in Europe, and Japan in Asia. There 
are also large weaving mills in Holland, Switzerland, Italy, 
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Russia, and in China 
and India, 

The foreign factories pay us money for the cotton they 
buy, and part of that money goes to the boys and girls 
on our southern plantations as wages. In foreign factories 
tens of thousands of boys and girls are kept busy spinning 
and weaving, and from the cloths they have made comes 
the money paid us; so you see they are working for us. 
And as they must have our cotton to carry on their busi- 
ness, we are working for them. Moreover, this is true also 
of the little black, brown, yellow, and white children of 
other parts of the earth who buy the cloth made from our 
cotton at home and abroad, so that the whole world really 
seems to be tied together with these cotton threads. In 
this way the human race by industry and commerce be- 
comes more and more every day like a family, each member 
of which is always helping and being helped by the others. 

1. Locate the cotton belt. Name five states in it. Name other 
countries that produce much cotton. (Page 502.) 

2. Describe the cotton plant, and tell how it is grown. From what 
part of our country comes most of the cotton? What kind is raised in 
the far West, and for what is it used? 

3. What inventions have had to do with making the cotton crop 
valuable? 

4. Visit a great cotton factory and tell how thread and cloth are 
made. What is a spindle? A loom? A gin? A cotton press? 

5. To what countries does much of our cotton go? Trace a bale 
of cotton from New Orleans to Liverpool; to Hamburg; to Yoko- 
hama, Japan; to Rio de Janeiro. How far does it travel in each of 
these voyages? (Pages 496-497.) 



152 NORTH AMERICA 

6. Where are the world's chief centers of cotton manufacture? 
Why does New England make so much cloth? Why is so much 
made in England? (See Carpenter's "Europe.") Why is so much 
made in India? (For further information about cotton, see Car- 
penter's "How the World is Clothed," chapters 4, 5 and 6.) 

7. What is cottonseed, and for what is it used? 

8. Make a list of all the things we get from the cotton plant. Name 
some part of your clothing which is made of cotton. Describe its 
travels and adventures from the cottonseed until it came to you. 

XIX. ATLANTA, BIRMINGHAM, AND CHARLES- 
TON—THE TURPENTINE INDUSTRY 

WE see many more mills as we travel through the 
cotton belt. The great red-brick, white-v^ndov^ed 
factories rise out of the midst of the plantations, and it 
seems as though the smoke from their stacks might pollute 
the snow-v^hite bolls of the cotton nov^ ready for picking. 
Near each factory is its mill village, consisting of one-story 
cottages of from three to five rooms, and in many a village 
is a brick schoolhouse, rising high above the homes of the 
people. 

Part of our traveling is done at night, and we see the 
Ughts from the factory v^ndows shining out of the dark- 
ness. Some of the mills run both day and night. As we 
go onward the importance of the South as an industrial 
region grows upon us. We pass many factories of one kind 
or another run by electricity, and finally come, to Atlanta, 
the capital of Georgia. 

Atlanta is one of the most thriving cities of our southern 
states ; it is a commercial and manufacturing center, and it 
has many beautiful homes. It lies at the base of the Blue 
Ridge, so high above the sea that its summers are delight- 




Airplane view of Atlanta's chief business district. 
153 



154 NORTH AMERICA 

ful, and so far south that its winters are mild. We take a 
stroll under the old forest trees lining Peachtree Street, 
visit the house where Joel Chandler Harris lived when he 
wrote his story of Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby, and 
then go out on the electric cars to see the soldiers drill 
at Fort McPherson. We visit also the battlefields where 
some terrible fighting was done during our Civil War. 

Atlanta has railroads branching out in every direction, 
and we take a train which carries us in a few hours to Bir- 
mingham, Alabama. Birmingham is located on an old 
cotton plantation, but the city is more famous for making 
iron and steel than for raising cotton or the weaving of cloth. 
There is a mountain of iron right in the town, and the valley 
in which it lies has rich mines of coal. Near by are beds 
of limestone, so that the place has all the three important 
materials needed for the making of steel. 

Indeed, it is said that steel can be made more cheaply in 
Birmingham than anywhere else in the world. We can 
well believe this when we see the huge mills covering acres, 
including blast furnaces as big around as a haystack and 
as high as a ten-story building. Some of the furnaces have 
a capacity of two thousand tons of pig iron per day. 

During our stay we see but little more than the outside 
of the mills, preferring to leave our study of the making of 
steel until we reach Pittsburgh; for it is in and near that 
city that more iron and steel are made than in any other 
part of the United States, and perhaps of the world. 

The southern states have many important minerals. 
There are deposits of iron and coal in the Appalachian 
Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Ten- 
nessee. The South has also rich deposits of phosphates, 
asbestos, and zinc. It has graphite and bauxite, the mineral 
from which aluminum is made. It has enormous water 



BIRMINGHAM 



155 




Steel mill at Birmingham. The blast furnaces, at the left, turn the 
ore into pig iron. 



powers and it will do more and more manufacturing as these 
are developed. 

Traveling eastward from Birmingham, we cross Georgia 
and South Carolina, and make our next stop at Charleston 
to visit Fort Sumter, where the first shot was fired at the 
beginning of our Civil War. Charleston is built on a 
peninsula at the mouths of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, 
and the fort is on a little island at the entrance to the 
harbor not far from the shore. We take a boat and row 
out. The island is surrounded by brick walls eight feet 



156 NORTH AMERICA 

thick and about forty feet high, and the grass-covered 
earthworks on the walls are still to be seen. 

Charleston is one of the oldest cities of the United States. 
It has wide streets lined with old mansions, at the sides 
of which are broad lawns and gardens. Many of the 
houses were built in the days of slavery, and back of them 
the cabins occupied by the slaves are still to be seen. 
There are many colored people in and about Charleston, 
as everywhere else in the South. 

After a walk down Meeting Street, we visit Citadel 
Square and ride out on the cars to the MagnoHa Cemetery 
to see the live oaks draped with Spanish moss and the 
many beautiful flowers. Upon our return we take a stroll 
along the Battery, facing the sea. 

Leaving Charleston, we go south to Savannah, a thriving 
cotton port long famous also as the chief turpentine and 
rosin port of the world. It is excelled in this respect to-day 
by Jacksonville, Florida, but we find its wharves are still 
filled with barrels of naval stores, as these things are 
called, awaiting shipment to Europe and other parts of 
the United States. 

We have all seen turpentine and rosin. Turpentine is a 
liquid used in mixing varnish and paint. Rosin is es- 
pecially valuable for varnish. It is employed also in ship-, 
building and in the manufacture of munitions and paper* 
and soap. Our school desks are probably coated with the 
juice of these pine trees, and from the same source comes 
the turpentine used in mixing the paint on this room. 
Rosin also waxes the bows of violins. 

But suppose we visit a turpentine farm and see how 
turpentine and rosin are produced. Both of these things 
come from the sap of the long-leaf pine tree, and the farm 
is a forest of these trees. There are farms of this kind all 



THE TURPENTINE INDUSTRY 



157 



along our south Atlantic coast from North Carolina to 
Florida, and farther west near the Gulf of Mexico to 
Louisiana. 

In harvesting the turpentine crop, the workmen cut out 
holes or boxes in the trunk of each tree near the ground, 
and then scar the bark over it. The sap oozes out of the 
scarred places and drops into the boxes, where it forms a 
gum as thick as molasses. This gum is scooped out, put 
into barrels, and carried to a distillery. There the gum is 




Turpentine distillery. The gum is melted in the building at the left. 
The vapor passes off through the pipe and condenses into turpentine. 

melted and the turpentine passes off in a vapor through 
pipes kept cool by streams of cold water. As the vapor 
touches the pipes it condenses and turns to a ^liquid again 
and flows out as turpentine. The rosin only is left in the 
kettle. It has become thick by boiling, and when put into 
barrels it hardens. It is then ready for sale. 

We are now on the eastern edge of the great pine forest 

CARP. N. AMER. — 10 



158 NORTH AMERICA 

belt which runs from North Carolina parallel with the 
coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico to 
eastern Texas. This belt is from sixty to more than one 
hundred and fifty miles wide, and it contains many mil- 
lions of acres of valuable timber. Every few miles along 
the railroads through it there are sawmills where the trees 
are being sawed into boards, and upon the tracks are long 
i trains of lumber of various kinds on their way to the cities 
'of our eastern and central states. 

The pine trees grow on the sandy soil of these regions 
where hard woods will not thrive. Hard woods are found 
only in the valleys and at the north higher up in the moun- 
tains behind the pine belt. Gum and cypress trees grow 
in the swamps. 

The southern pines are of several well-known varieties. 
The long-leaf or Georgia yellow pine is used largely for 
floors and the inside woodwork of houses, and the same is 
true of the better grades of some of the other varieties of 
pines, such as the North Carolina and Virginia pines, and 
of the Cuban pines. We are told, however, that lumber 
is growing so scarce that trees of almost every description 
are now being cut, and as we see the great quantities 
shipped we wonder whether in time our woods will not 
all disappear. 

The southern states have about two fifths of our stand- 
ing timber, but there are now about eighteen thousand 
sawmills at work, and it is said that not many years will 
elapse before it is all cut away. The southern hard woods 
supply much of the oak and hickory used in the making 
of our furniture, airplanes, and automobiles. 

Our travels over the railroads carry us for miles through 
the swamps, of which there are many throughout this 
part of the southern states. The Okefeno'kee Swamp of 




Scene in Dismal Swamp, Virginia and North Carolina. About two 

thirds of the swamp has been reclaimed by drainage. 

159 



i6o NORTH AMERICA 

Georgia has regions like the jungles of tropical countries, 
and quagmires in which a horse or a man might sink out 
of sight. The swamps contain many kinds of snakes, and 
alligators by scores crawl through the muddy waters of 
those bordering the Gulf of Mexico. 

1. Locate Atlanta. How far is it from New York? New Orleans? 
San Francisco? 

2. What famous writer for children lived in x\tlanta? Tell the 
story of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby. 

3. Locate Birmingham. Why is it a great steel-making center? 

4. What is bauxite? Asbestos? Zinc? Graphite? Mention some- 
thing for which each is used. 

5. Locate Charleston. What famous historic event occurred 
there? 

6. Point out some article of furniture in the schoolroom on which 
turpentine was used. What other uses has turpentine? From what 
region does it come? 

— — oojo;o-©— 



XX. FLORIDA 

WE begin our travels this morning in the land of 
flowers. The word ''Florida," which means "Flow- 
ery," was given to this region by its discoverer, Ponce de 
Leon (pon'thadala-on'), who came here looking for an 
island which the Indians said contained the fountain of 
perpetual youth. He found Florida so beautiful that he 
called it the Island of Florida, not knov^ng it was a part of 
the mainland. Many years later, in 1565, the Spaniards 
founded St. Augustine, the first white colony on the main- 
land of the United States. 

Florida was a Spanish possession for more than two 
centuries. It was a Spanish colony when our English col- 
onies gained their independence, and it was not until 18 19 



FLORIDA i6i 

that by a treaty with Spain it became a part of the 
United States. About that time Andrew Jackson, who 
afterwards became President, was commanding our soldiers 
in fighting the Seminole Indians, and he was made the 
first governor. The chief city of Florida, Jacksonville, 
was named after him. 

Florida is one of the low lands of our country. It has 
no hills as high as the Washington Monument, and a great 
part of it is almost on the level of the sea. The state has 
thirty thousand lakes, and the Everglades in the southern 
part is a huge shallow fresh- water lake larger than Connect- 
icut. It is filled with low, marshy islands and abounds in 
fish and wild birds of many kinds. Much of the marsh is 
now being drained and turned into orchards and farms. 
More than half the state is covered with forest, and it has 
some of the best woodlands of the South. 

The soil of Florida is composed largely of lime and other 
material from the sea floor. In places it is underlain with 
beds of phosphate rock, which is among our most valuable 
fertihzers. The largest deposits of phosphates in the 
world are found here. Several million tons are sometimes 
mined in a year, and the rock aids our farmers greatly in 
increasing their crops. 

Much of the land is sandy, with spongy limestone rock, 
underneath. A part has been built up in the sea by the' 
millions of coral polyps that live in the warm waters of this 
part of the world. In the southern part of the peninsula 
where the land drops out of sight the polyps are still at 
their work of world building. We see this in the many little 
coral islands poking their heads up through the waters and 
forming the Florida Keys, which end in Key West. 

The climate of Florida is delightful. The state lies in 
the tropics, and in the winter it is warm when our northern 



i62 NORTH AMERICA 

states are covered with snow. In summer the heat is 
tempered by the breezes from the sea. This has caused 
many of our northern people to go to Florida to escape the 
cold winters, and some of them have made their homes 
there. Railroads have been constructed to take care of the 
visitors, and cities and towns have grown up. Had we time 
we might ride on the cars along the whole eastern coast of 
Florida, seeing fine homes almost all the way, and finally 
go out over the coral islands to Key West, which is only a 
few hours by steamer from Havana in Cuba. 

The latter part of this trip we should make on a railroad 
built over the sea, the Keys forming the foundations in 
many blocks. About fifty of the Keys are inhabited, and 
the largest is thirty miles long. They are coral islets which 
extend in a curve from the end of the peninsula to Key 
West. The channels separating the islands vary in width 
from a few hundred feet to several miles. The water 
between is not deep, and concrete bridges or viaducts 
have been built up for the railway, seventy-five miles of 
which seems to rest, as it were, on the water. One viaduct 
is seven miles long. 

Key West is an important place. It is a habitable island 
with a well-fortified harbor, commanding the entrance 
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Many 
people on the island are engaged in making cigars of to- 
bacco brought from Havana over the way. Others catch 
turtles, and dive down for the sponges found in the waters 
near by. There are one hundred and fifty little sailing 
vessels in the sponge fleet, and they are always coming 
and going. 

We have an excellent train from Savannah to Jackson- 
ville, the largest city and chief seaport of the state. It lies 
on the St. Johns River, which connects it with the Atlantic. 




Sponges, and bales of sponges, in a sponge warehouse. 
163 



i64 NORTH AMERICA 

We see ocean ships at the wharves and also side-wheel 
boats, upon which we shall travel up the St. Johns into the 
heart of the country. 

After leaving Jacksonville, we steam for a long distance 
through what seems a great lake. The St. Johns has been 
called a little Amazon, and we see why as we go. The 
river, which rises in the southern swamps and flows north 
almost parallel with the ocean, is in many places more than 
a mile wide. It is lined with forests of palmetto, live oak, 
and cypress, the branches of which are loaded with 
Spanish moss. This moss is a sort of air plant which 
grows over the trees, hanging down from the limbs, and 
in some places almost reaching the water. Much of 
the earth along the banks is sandy. We miss the green 
turf of other parts of our country, and although our sur- 
roundings are beautiful we long for the velvety grass of 
the North. 

We find, however, that every part of the world has its 
own beauties. The wild flowers of Florida include many 
that are grown in northern hothouses, and there are hun- 
dreds of semitropical plants not found in the other parts of 
our country. In some places we go through jungles so 
dense that we imagine ourselves in the hot lands of Africa. 
The air is soft and balmy in the evenings and mornings, 
but at midday the sun is so hot that we have to keep under 
cover. 

We see curious birds on our voyage. Herons and buz- 
zards fly about overhead; and long-legged cranes and big- 
throated pelicans stand in the mud on the edge of the river. 
Now and then an alligator scrambles down the muddy 
banks as it hears the noise of the boat. 

The streams which flow into the St. Johns furnish ex- 
cellent fishing. Florida is one of our best fishing grounds. 



FLORIDA 



165 



It is the home of the tarpon, our biggest fish that can be 
caught with a hook. Many a tarpon, if stood upon 
its tail, would be 
as tall as a man; 
and some have been 
caught which weighed 
more than one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds. 
Tarpon fishing re- 
quires a strong line. 
The sportsman often 
has to fight with the 
fish for hours; he 
lets it run with the 
hook this way and 
that until it is tired 
out and at last can be 
dragged to the boat. 
All together, Flor- 
ida has six hundred 
or more different 
species of fish in its 
waters. In addition 
to the tarpon, we 
learn that shad, mul- 
let, mackerel, trout, 
red snappers, and 

even turtles and oys- Tarpon over six feet long, weighing 215 
ters are caught in pounds, 

large numbers and shipped to all parts of the country. 
Hundreds of fishing vessels are engaged in the work, and 
more than three million dollars' worth of fish has been 
taken from these waters in one year. 




i66 NORTH AMERICA 

XXI. A VISIT TO AN ORANGE GROVE 

AS we travel up the St. Johns we learn that this region 
l\ is the chief winter fruit and market garden for sup- 
plying the cities and towns of the North. We see many 
orchards and gardens where trucking is done. Florida 
raises large quantities of early tomatoes, millions of water- 
melons and muskmelons, and about four million bushels of 
sweet potatoes a year. It gives New York and Boston 
their early strawberries, and produces also guavas, Japanese 
persimmons, and plums. It has many lime, lemon, and 
grapefruit trees, while its two leading fruit crops are oranges 
and pineapples. 

We have to go some distance south to reach the best 
orange districts. There are oranges in all parts of the state, 
but in the north the fruit is sometimes spoiled by frost. 

The orange orchard we visit lies on the banks of the 
Indian River. We have no trouble in getting a permit to see 
it. Oranges are as common here as apples are in New 
England, and the men tell us to go in among the trees and 
pick all we can eat. 

How delicious the fruit tastes when fresh from the tree! 
It is more juicy than any we can buy in the stores. How 
full the trees are ! Some are so loaded that the golden balls 
shine out everywhere through the emerald green leaves. 
Single trees sometimes bear as many as five thousand 
oranges a year. 

We ask the owner of the grove to tell us how oranges are 
grown. He replies that the trees have to be planted and 
cultivated five or ten years before they come into bearing, 
and adds that certain trees have been known to be still 
producing fruit when more than one hundred years old. 

The orange crop Is important. We produce one third of 



A VISIT TO AN ORANGE GROVE 



167 




Strawberry pickers. Much of this fruit is sent North. 



all the oranges grown in the world, and there are none more 
delicious than those of Florida and California. Hundreds 
of millions of oranges are eaten in the United States every 
year. We import some from Sicily, and also from the 



i68 NORTH AMERICA 

West Indies, but our best oranges are from our own 
country. 

In Florida also we have lemonade made from fruit fresh 
from the tree, and pick grapefruit, which we eat sweetened 
with sugar. Lemons and grapefruit grow much like oranges. 
The grapefruits are usually twice as large as a large orange; 
they are of a pale lemon color, and look beautiful as they 
hang on the trees. 

In southern Florida we see many coconut groves and pine- 
apple plantations. The coconut comes from a palm tree 
which thrives near the seacoast. It begins to bear when 
from nine to twelve years old, and a good tree may have as 
many as one hundred coconuts on it. 

Pineapples grow upon the ground not unlike cabbages. 
They are planted during the months of July, August, and 
September, at which time slips or suckers taken from the 
old pineapples are set out in the ground about twenty 
inches apart. This is so close that ten thousand or more 
can be grown on one acre. If the plants are carefully 
cultivated, at the end of twenty months the fruit is ready 
to ship. The pineapples are often picked green and allowed 
to ripen while on their way to the markets. Those we eat 
here in Florida have ripened on the ground, and they are 
far more delicious than any we have ever tasted before. 

Most of southern Florida is wilderness. One can ride for 
hundreds of miles in boats through the swamps, and one 
may have a shot at a bear, a wildcat, or a deer. When we 
go swimming we are always on the lookout for alligators, 
and we shall not be safe in some parts of the Everglades 
without guns in our hands. 

1. By whom was Florida discovered? To whom did it belong before 
it came to the United States? 

2. How far is Jacksonville from New York? How far is Key 




Grapefruit in a Florida orchard. 
169 




170 



ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO 171 

West from New Orleans? From Havana, Cuba? (Map, fron- 
tispiece.) 

3. What states border Florida on the north? What ocean on the 
east? What gulf on the west? What other great peninsula is in the 
United States? Compare it in size with Florida. 

4. What valuable characteristics has the soil of Florida? What is 
much of the rock underneath? What little animals made it? What 
are phosphates, and for what are they used? 

5. Make a trip to Key West. Describe the railway and tell what 
you see. Why is Key West important to the defense of our country? 

6. Mention some of the chief products' of Florida. What kinds of 
fruit has it? How are they grown? 

7. What is the chief river of Florida? In which direction does it 
flow? Describe your trip on it. Why is it not safe to swim in some 
of the Florida waters? 

XXII. ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO TO NEW 
ORLEANS — THE MISSISSIPPI JETTIES 

WE shall now cross the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of 
the Mississippi River and steam up that stream for 
about one hundred miles to the city of New Orleans. 
The Gulf of Mexico does not look large on the map, but its 
eastern and western shores are farther apart in places than 
are New York and Chicago, and the same is true of its 
northern and southern limits. The area of the Gulf is 
almost one fourth as great as that of the main body of the 
United States. Our best route will be north along the coast 
from Tampa to Mobile, and thence west to the mouth of the 
Mississippi and up the river to New Orleans. 

We stay only a few hours at Tampa and Mobile. Both 
ports have excellent harbors, and they have a great trade in 
cotton, lumber, and naval stores, which are shipped to Eu- 
rope and to the West Indies and South and Central America. 



172 NORTH AMERICA 

We enter the Mississippi River through the mouth 
known as the South Pass. The Mississippi has several 
mouths, into which the mighty stream divides in passing 
through its wide delta. The land here has been built up 
during the ages by the earth washings brought down by 
the river, and we find the stream so loaded with mud that it 
discolors the w^aters of the Gulf far out from the mouths of 
the river. It is estimated that the Mississippi brings 
down enough soil every year to make an island a mile 
square and several hundred feet high. 

One might think this silt would so fill the channels that 
ships could not possibly pass. And so it would if the 
currents were not strong enough to carry the mud far out 
into the depths of the Gulf. As it is, the silt has built up 
great bars in front of most of the mouths, so that large 
vessels cannot make their way through. 

Our steamer crosses one of these bars through the channel 
formed by the Mississippi River jetties. These jetties 
were constructed by Captain James B. Eads in order that 
the current might cut out and keep clear a channel from the 
deep waters of the Mississippi near New Orleans to the 
Gulf. 

Captain Eads sounded the Gulf and found deep water 
just beyond the bars. He believed that if he could narrow 
the channel the current of water passing through would be 
swift and strong enough to carry its load of mud far out 
into the Gulf, and at the same time cut a deep channel 
through the bar. He laid his plans before Congress, and 
was given the money to carry them out. They proved a 
success, and there is now a channel several hundred feet 
wide and over thirty feet deep through which the big ships 
from the ocean can safely enter the broad Mississippi. 

But what are the jetties, and how are they made? They 



THE MISSISSIPPI JETTIES 175 

are wide walls built up from the bed of the riv^r on each 
side of the channel. They were made by driving long rows 
of piles or tree trunks down into the bed of the river, so 
that they formed two thick walls inclosing the channel and 
running from the end of the land through the water, across 
the sandbars, and on into the Gulf. The piles were driven 
into the mud to a depth of thirty feet so that the walls 
miglit be strong. 

But piles alone were not sufficient. Closely built em- 
bankments were needed, but these had to be made in the 
sea. How do you think this was done? Captain Eads 
harnessed the river and made it do much of the work. He 
had his workmen cut millions of willows and tie them 
together into great rafts, which were floated in among 
the piles, and then loaded with heavy stones and gravel 
until they sank to the bottom. Other rafts were then 
floated just over these, and sunk the same way, until at 
last they had thick piles and walls of willows and stone 
on each side of the channel reaching far out into the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

Then the silt-laden Mississippi, as it flowed through the 
willows and rocks, dropped enough mud to fill up the 
spaces, and thus solid walls were created on each side of 
the channel. By these walls the waters of the river are 
confined in so small a space that they keep moving and 
carry their burden of mud far out into the Gulf. 

We pass many vessels as we sail through the jetties, and 
they increase in number as we come into the Mississippi 
and approach New Orleans. We go by steamers filled with 
bales of cotton and grain and other merchandise on their 
way to Europe. New Orleans is one of our chief cotton 
ports, and also one of the chief grain ports of the South. 
The grain is loaded from an elevator which covers many 

CARP. N. AMER. — 11 



174 NORTH AMERICA 

acres, and is two hundred feet high. The grain is taken 
from the cars or ships which bring it in from the farms at 
the rate of two hmidred thousand bushels per day, and 
pumped into the storage bins of the elevator, from which 
it can be poured into the ocean steamers so quickly that a 
ship is loaded at the rate of one hundred thousand bushels 
per hour. This elevator was built by the state of Louisiana. 
In the state warehouse near by we shall see men loading 
corn. 

As we move up the Mississippi we can see for miles over 
the country. In many places the land is lower than the 
surface of the river, and everywhere the land along the 
banks has been built up to keep back the water. The 
high banks are called lev'ees. Upon some of them orchards 
and gardens are growing. 

Almost the whole of New Orleans lies so far below the 
level of the Mississippi that walls as high as a two-story 
house have been built to keep out the water when the 
floods come. For a long time there were but few spots in 
the city where one could dig without striking water within 
a few feet of the surface. The ground was soaked almost 
to the grass roots, and a big rain sent rivers flowing through 
some of the streets. The whole city seemed to float, as 
it were, on a swamp. 

To-day the ground beneath New Orleans is kept almost 
as dry as a bone. An immense drainage system has been 
constructed, and the water flows off into low-level canals, 
from which it is pumped out into canals higher up, and in 
that way carried off into Lake Pontchartrain, whence it 
flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Formerly, there could be 
no cellars on account of the water, and in the cemeteries 
the graves were built above ground. It was difficult to 
make good foundations, and the city was squatty. To- 



NEW ORLEANS 175 

day, it has many large buildings, although no skyscrapers 
such as we saw in New York. 

But let us climb to the roof of the grain elevator and take 
a bird's-eye view of the city. We are high above the 
surface of the Mississippi, which winds its way in and out 
through the wide expanse of buildings below us, like a 
mighty yellow boa constrictor, and is lost in the green 
fields at the south. Looking more closely, we can see 
railway trains flying along, on two iron bands girdling the 
heart of the city. Those bands are the public belt railway, 
which enables the freight of many railways to be brought 
in and unloaded at the doors of the warehouses at very 
small cost. The belt line connects with every railway 
system that comes to this gateway of the ocean. 

Now take your spyglass and sweep it around over the 
city. The old buildings are low on account of the water- 
soaked lands of the past, and it is only those near the 
river that are of great height. Back from the stream are 
beautiful homes of two and three stories, and in the old 
French quarter we see that the houses are crowded along 
narrow streets with galleries running from block to block. 

The grain elevator upon which we are standing compares 
in size with those of Duluth or Chicago, and near it is the 
state cotton warehouse, which covers one hundred acres. 
It handles a million bales of cotton a year, and some day 
will be able to store one sixth of all the cotton raised in our 
country. 

Coming down from the roof of the elevator we take 
automobiles and ride through the streets. New Orleans 
is much like a European city, and we hear many languages 
spoken as we stop here and there. The city first belonged 
to the French, and a little later the Spaniards owned the 
town and much of our country northwest of the Gulf of 



176 



NORTH AMERICA 




Bales of cotton ready for shipment, at the New Orleans warehouse. 



Mexico. At that time New Orleans was the chief Spanish 
town of the New World. Later still the territory again 
came into the possession of France, and in 1803 it was sold 
to us by the French Emperor Napoleon for fifteen million 
dollars. By that Louisiana Purchase, as it is called, we 
acquired most of the land between the Mississippi River 
and the Rocky Mountains. A great part of our future 
travels are to be in that region. 

During our War of 181 2 New Orleans was attacked by 
a British army of twelve thousand, which was defeated 
by General Andrew Jackson with six thousand Americans. 
The battle lasted only a short time, when the British fled, 
leaving about two thousand killed and wounded behind 
them. 

In some parts of New Orleans there is as much French 
spoken as English. Let us visit the French market. It 



NEW ORLEANS 



177 



is not far from Canal Street, the chief business highway. 
Many of the marketmen are French, Spanish, or ItaHan, 
and those who are buying use a strange jargon in making 
their bargains. At some of the stalls vegetables are sold 
by the lot and not by the bushel, peck, or quart. They 
are arranged upon tables in piles, and each marketman fixes 
the price of his piles. The buyers take those they think 
are the biggest and cheapest. 

Leaving the market we make a tour of the wharves. 
The water front is about forty miles long, and the municipal 
docks reach seven miles. The city has five miles of great 
warehouses, and its arrangements for handling cargoes are 




Loading cotton for export. New Orleans is one of the chief cotton 
ports of the world. 



178 NORTH AMERICA 

as good as those of any port in our country. It has eleven 
trunk hnes of railway, and the Mississippi system includes 
thousands of miles of navigable waters. Grain, cotton, 
and other products come in chiefly by rail, but some In 
river steamers and barges, and many ocean vessels are 
always going out through the jetties carrying these products 
to Europe. At the same time coffee, sugar, bananas, and 
other products are coming in from South and Central 
America, and we have to watch our steps to keep out of the 
way of the stevedores. There comes a huge motor truck 
loaded with cotton. It is driven by a burly negro, who sits 
high up in the air almost surrounded by the bales. Let 
us follow it and see how the pressing is done. 

The truck goes through the narrow streets not far from 
the banks of the river and finally stops at the state ware- 
house. Here the bales are rolled off and weighed before 
pressing. Each bale now takes up about as much space as 
an ordinary kitchen table. It is as high as our shoulders 
and about three feet square. It has already been squeezed 
by the machinery of the plantations into as small a package 
as was possible without the use of the great cotton press. 

There comes a bale now about to be pressed. The man 
wheeling it in has already cut the iron hoops with which 
it was bound, and the cotton swells out as though taking a 
breath of relief. It swells more and more as it is thrown 
into the huge iron jaws of the press. Now the engineer 
pulls a lever and the steel jaws move towards each other. 
They are operated by electricity, and the force is so great 
that the size of the bale is reduced to less than half what it 
was when it left the plantation. Then it weighed only four- 
teen pounds to the cubic foot and it now weighs thirty-four 
pounds. The Iron straps are fastened around it as it lies 
in the press, and when it comes out It Is ready to be stored 



A VISIT TO A SUGAR PLANTATION 



179 



away in the warehouse or taken to the hold of a steamer. 
Such pressing is necessary in order to increase the number 
of bales that can be stowed away in one shipload. 



K>:«co< 



XXIIL A VISIT TO A SUGAR PLANTATION 

HAVE you a sweet tooth? If so, you must be careful 
in your travels with us to-day. We are now in the 
hot, moist lands about the Gulf of Mexico, from which 
much of our cane sugar comes. In the western part of our 
country we make sugar from beets, and we also import 
beet sugar from Europe. We bring in cane sugar by the 
shipload from Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands, and we 
make some on the plantations here in Louisiana. 

There are scores of such plantations within a few hours' 
ride of New Orleans, and we have an invitation to visit one 
of the largest. The plantation is so big that it has railroads 
to carry the cane from the fields to the factory, and it 
employs so many people that their houses make a large 
village. The buildings of its refinery cover several acres. 

Leaving New Orleans, we pass through swamps whose 
trees are loaded with Spanish moss, and then go for miles 
through fields of tall sugar cane. Now and then we see the 
smoke of a huge mill streaming out against the blue sky, 
and at last we stop at the station on the estate. 

The manager gives us horses for a gallop over the planta- 
tion before we look at the mill. There are roads through the 
fields, and we ride between walls of green cane. The leaves 
of the stalks rise above our heads as we sit on our horses. 
Some of the cane is fifteen feet high and the rows are so 
close together that were it not for the roads it would 



i8o NORTH AMERICA 

be almost impossible for us to make our way through 
them. 

But before we go farther, let us stop and learn how the 
sugar cane is grown. The crop looks like corn, but the cane 
planting is not like corn planting. Corn is raised from 
seed grains, and it is planted in the spring. Sugar cane 
may be planted in either fall or spring; and instead of seed 
grains, little pieces of ripe stalks are laid flat in furrows 
that run from one side of the field to the other. The stalks 
are so laid that they fit close together, three being placed 
side by side, making three long rows or pipes of cane in 
each furrow. Next, the soil is thrown over the cane with a 
plow, and the planting is done. By and by, in the spring, 
sprouts start up from each joint of the cane, making long 
ribbons of green against the black soil. The sprouts grow 
rapidly, and by August they are as tall as a man. They 
continue to grow until the middle of October, when they 
are about twice as high as the average corn stalk and are 
ready for cutting. This is the height of the cane at the 
time of our visit. 

We stay for a while at a place where scores of men and 
women are cutting the cane. They labor in squads under 
an overseer; and as they stand in the fields they face what 
looks like a solid wall of green. Each has a knife, which 
flashes in the sunlight as he cuts his way through the wall. 

See how carefully they work! Not a motion is wasted. 
The sweetest juice is in the lower part of the cane, and for 
that reason they cut it off close to the ground. They also 
strip off the leaves and cut off the top of one cane before 
they go on to the next. After cutting, the stalks are thrown 
into piles ready to be taken in carts to the cars. 

There is a loaded train ready to move. Let us jump on 
and go with it. On our way to the miU we cross large 




Cultivating a field of young sugar cane in Louisiana, 
grown the cane will be twice as high. 

i8i 



When full 



i82 NORTH AMERICA 

canals. The plantation was at one time a swamp, and the 
land had to be drained before the cane could be planted. 
We have already learned how much work it takes to grow 
cane. We are now about to see the wonderful machinery 
required to get the juice out and turn it to sugar. 

Our car stops at one of a group of large buildings. The 
cane is thrown off upon a moving belt which carries it to 
the top of the big mill, and drops it down upon two heavy 
steel rollers, each as large around as a hogshead and much 
longer. They have teeth much like those of an enormous 
file. As the cane falls upon the rollers, the teeth catch 
hold of it and pull it in between them, and their weight is 
such that the juice is squeezed out, so that when the cane 
comes out it is as dry as a last year's cornstalk. It is so dry 
that it burns readily and can be used for fuel. It falls upon 
a moving belt which carries it into the furnaces that run 
the mill. 

But what becomes of the juice? Let us go under the 
rollers and see. It is pouring down from them in streams 
into a trough about a foot wide. We dip in our fingers and 
taste the liquid as it falls from the cane. It is so sweet it is 
sickening. It looks dirty, and reminds us of dishwater. 
Still, out of this sweet, dirty water the pure white sugar 
will come. But every bit of dirt must first be taken out, 
and it must be made as clear as crystal before it is boiled 
down into sugar. 

The sweet liquid is first carried by pipes into large iron 
tanks, where it is bleached by running sulphurous acid gas 
through it. The gas makes it bubble, and a yellow foam 
rises to the top and is skimmed off. Lime is now put into 
the tank to settle the dirt and remove the acid. After 
several such processes, the juice becomes clear. 

The sweet liquid is now ready for boiUng. This is done 




Sacks of raw sugar. The sugar will be retined and sent all over the 
United States. 




How lump sugar is made. These cakes of sugar are being dried, alter 
which they will be cut into small pieces. 



183 



i84 NORTH AMERICA 

in vats or tanks heated by coils of steam pipe. The Hquid 
is skimmed as it boils. It flows from one tank to another, 
growing clearer and clearer, and thicker and thicker. Taste 
it now. It is the purest of sirup, and its color has turned to 
a light yellow. 

Look at the sirup as it seethes in the tank! What an 
enormous amount there is of it! There is enough here to 
give the children of a whole state a taffy pulling. At the 
left is one big tank which contains forty thousand pounds of 
sirup, all boiling and seething in the process of being made 
into sugar. 

Come with me now to that huge vat where the boiling 
has turned the sirup almost to sugar. The vat is twice as 
long as our parlor at home, and so deep that if we fell in we 
should be drowned in the mixture. Let us take up a spoon- 
ful. It is as thick as mush, and in fact is a mush of molasses 
and sugar. 

It needs now only the centrifugal drying machine to take 
out the sugar. In this process the mixture is whirled round 
at great speed, being thrown against the fine meshes of the 
sieyelike vessel in which it is placed, and the molasses 
passes through, leaving only the yellowish white crystals of 
sugar. This is raw sugar, ready to be packed up in bags or 
barrels and shipped to the markets. 

In the larger refineries the purifying of the sugar is carried 
still further. The sugar water is filtered through tanks of 
charred bones ground to a powder. It is washed and 
filtered again and again and is heated in such a way that 
the sugar grains become pure white and all the same size. 

The coarser sugars are not so carefully refined, but most 
of our fine sugar is made in this way. 

But what becomes of the molasses? This word, as used 
in the refinerv, means the refuse left after making the sugar. 



A SUGAR PLANTATION— RICE FIELDS 185 

It contains the poorest parts of the juice when all the sugar 
possible has been taken from it. Such molasses is different 
from that sold as sirup, which is made from the fine juice of 
the cane. The refuse molasses is so cheap that it some- 
times brings as little as one cent a gallon. Then it does not 
pay to put it into barrels, for the barrels would be worth 
more than the molasses; and so it is carried to the markets 
in tank cars and sold largely in bulk. Much of it is used for 
feeding cattle and horses. 

Leaving the sugar refinery, our next journey will be to see 
how rice is raised. The regions near by are noted for pro- 
ducing rice as well as sugar. Indeed, Louisiana raises more 
of this grain each year than any other state, its annual 
product being about twenty million bushels, or enough to 
give a pound of rice to two thirds of all the people in the 
world and leave some to spare. 

Rice is one of the oldest of grains. It originated in 
India, and was eaten by the Chinese thousands of years 
before Christ. For ages it has been the chief bread food of 
Asia, and it takes the place of bread in the Philippines, the 
Dutch East Indies, and many other islands of the Pacific. 
Rice grows well in Siam, Burma, Egypt, and almost all 
other tropical countries. It was not produced in our 
country, however, before 1694. At that time a ship from 
Madagascar, loaded with rice, was driven by a storm into 
the port of Charleston, South Carolina, and the captain 
left some of the grain with one of the citizens, who planted 
it in a low place in his garden. A big crop was the result, 
and within a short time rice became one of the chief prod- 
ucts of that part of the United States. The crop was 
first grown in the lowlands of the coastal plain in South 
Carolina and Georgia, and here and there along the shores 
of the Gulf of Mexico, but later large rice plantations were 




1 86 



RICE FIELDS 187 

laid out in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and California, and 
nearly all of our crop now comes from these four states. 

The rice field which we visit is almost ready for harvest. 
As we come near the fields the yellow grain makes us think 
of wheat, but we see that the straw is different and that the 
heads are not at all like those of any grain raised in the 
North. The plants seem to grow in the water, and we are 
told that the best rice is raised where the ground can be 
flooded. The crop must have also the hot sun, and this 
land with its hot moist air and rich wet soil is just right for it. 

As we go through the fields we learn how rice is raised. 
Mud walls or banks are built up about the fields to hold in 
the water. The land is broken up with gang plows drawn 
by horses or steam or gasoline tractors, and nearly every- 
thing connected with the crop is done by machinery. The 
seed is sown by means of drills, and then the land is flooded, 
the water being pumped in with steam engines that lift 
tens of thousands of gallons per hour. Within a short time 
the sprouts come out of the ground and poke their tiny 
green heads up through the mirror-like surface. The water 
remains on the fields until the rice is nearly ready for cut- 
ting. The straw is then yellow, and the heavy grains pull 
the heads over. 

The water is drawn off, and the rice is harvested like 
wheat and oats. The stalks are cut and shocked in the 
fields, and then threshed to get out the grain. When oats 
and wheat are threshed the grain is ready for use. When 
rice is threshed, the process of preparing it for the market 
has only begun. Each little kernel has a hull, which does 
not come off in the threshing, but sticks as tight as though 
it were glued. Before the rice can be sold, the hulls must be 
removed. This is done by hulling machines. As the rice 
comes out of the machines it is rough, and most of it is 



i88 NORTH AMERICA 

rubbed and polished before it is sent to the market, although 
its food value is lessened by this process. 

Some of our rice is raised on high lands without flooding. 
This is known as upland rice. It is grown in almost the 
same way as wheat and oats are grown in the North. 

1. Locate the Gulf of Mexico. Compare it in size with Hudson 
Bay. The Great Lakes. The United States. What states border 
upon it? 

2. Describe the Mississippi jetties and tell why they were built. 

3. Locate New Orleans. Make a trip through the city and tell 
what you see. Why are cotton presses necessary? 

4. If we had not made the Louisiana Purchase, what would be the 
United States of to-day? 

5. Visit a cane sugar plantation and describe it. A sugar mill. 

6. From what plants does most of our sugar come? Where is 
mo&t of our cane sugar raised? (For further information about sugar 
see Carpenter's "How the World is Fed," pages 328-343.) What 
countries of the world lead in producing cane sugar? Beet sugar? 
(See pages 501, 502.) 

7. Visit a rice plantation and tell what you see. How did rice 
first come to North America? Where are the chief rice lands of the 
world? (See page 501.) For what is rice used? 

8. Trace a cargo of rice from Bombay to New York, by two differ- 
ent routes, going east and west. From Manila to New Orleans. In 
each case, how far does the rice travel? Over what oceans? Through 
what important canals or straits? (For further information about 
rice see Carpenter's "How the World is Fed," chapter 7.) 

XXIV. THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES — A GREAT 
SALT MINE 

BEFORE starting on our trip up the Mississippi 
River, we shall make a short run along the shores of 
the Gulf of Mexico through Louisiana and Texas, and then 
go northward into Oklahoma, returning by rail through 



THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES 189 

Arkansas and Louisiana to New Orleans. The four south- 
ern states west of the lower Mississippi are one of the most 
interesting parts of our country. They comprise more than 
four hundred and thirty thousand square miles. Louisiana 
is nearly as large as New York, Oklahoma is about twice 
the size of Indiana, and Arkansas almost as large as 
Illinois. 

As for Texas, it is more than twice the size of the United 
Kingdom, larger than either Germany or France, and 
twice as big as the Italian peninsula. It is about as large as 
New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky combined. The 
state is so big that if it could be tipped up and turned over 
to the north, it would reach nearly to Canada; or if turned 
up with the Rio Grande as a base, and let fall towards the 
south, it would blot out most of the republic of Mexico. 
Tipped to the east a part of it would fall into the Atlantic 
Ocean, and to the west it would touch the Pacific Ocean. 

These four states contain some of the best soil of the 
world. Louisiana leads all the states in the production of 
sugar cane and rice, and Texas leads all the states in its 
crops of cotton. Oklahoma and Arkansas are each rich in 
cotton and corn, and Texas has more cattle than any other 
state. At Fort Worth, its chief packing center, several 
million head of live stock are killed every year. The warm 
lands along the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico from 
the mouth of the Rio Grande northward to Galveston are a 
great winter garden from which tens of thousands of car- 
loads of fruit and vegetables are sent every year to the 
cities of the North, and northern Texas and Oklahoma have 
large crops of wheat, much of which goes to Galveston for 
export to Europe. 

This region has also huge forests of long-leaf pine trees, 

CARP. N. AMER. — 12 



IQO NORTH AMERICA 

from which lumber is exported to Central and South Amer- 
ica, and even to Europe. It has deposits of petroleum, 
sulphur, and salt which are unsurpassed by those of any 
other part of our country. 

Leaving New Orleans on the Southern Pacific railway, 
we go westward over the lowlands which form a part of the 
delta of the Mississippi. We pass through sugar planta- 
tions where gangs of negroes are plowing the cane, and 
cross rice fields where the green plants seem to float like 
emeralds on the silvery water. 

Our first stop is in one of the great bird homes of the 
world. During the winter enormous numbers of birds 
from the North fly to the warm marshes along the Gulf 
coast, where they feed for a season, making nests and raising 
their young. They inhabit the shores of the Gulf, and 
especially the islands near by which have been turned into 
bird reservations where nobody is permitted to hunt. 
There nests have been made for the birds, and they breed 
by the million. Some of them are so tame that they will 
eat from our hands. 

Under the marshy lowlands along the coast of Louisiana 
and Texas lie some of the great salt beds of the world. 
The salt rock is below what are called islands, but are really 
huge mounds of earth rising a few feet above the marshy 
lowlands surrounding. These islands are often long dis- 
tances apart, but they extend for hundreds of miles along 
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In some of them holes 
have been sunk with diamond drills to a depth of from 
five hundred to one thousand feet to learn the character of 
the deposits beneath. Under many of the mounds the 
salt beds are so thick that the bottom has never been 
reached. Texas has four mounds under which the salt is 
known to be more than one thousand feet thick, and there 




Mine tunnels cut out of the solid salt rock. 




Salt rock as it is brought out of the mine. 
191 



192 



NORTH AMERICA 



is one which the state geologist estimates to contain more 
than fifteen hundred miUion tons of rock salt. 

The salt deposit which we shall explore is supposed to 
contain so much salt that if it all could be brought up and 
distributed among the people there would be a two-horse 
wagonload for every man, woman, and child in the world. 
The amount is two billion tons. The mine is situated under 
Avery Island, not far from the Gulf of Mexico, and about 
one hundred and twenty-five miles west of New Orleans. 

Leaving the railway station, .we climb a hill and come to 
the shaft house at the entrance to the mine. We enter the 
elevator, the bell rings, and we drop down the shaft into a 
darkness so thick it can almost be felt. Descending five 
hundred feet, we stop at a great tunnel lighted by elec- 
tricity. The salt rock begins almost at the surface, and 
the shaft has been cut through solid salt. 

The tunnel in which we now stand is cut through salt. 
The walls sparkle like diamonds under the electric rays, and 
the white roof seems to be frosted silver. We climb on a 
car and ride through the tunnel into the mine, passing 
chamber after chamber of enormous extent, all cut out of 
salt. The floors, walls, and ceilings are white, and we seem 
to be in a huge palace of snow. Some of the chambers are 
twice as large as a schoolroom, and their ceilings are as high 
as the roof of a six-story building. They were once solid 
.rock salt, which has been blasted out, taken up the shaft 
'to the surface, and there ground up, to be shipped to the 
markets. The floor Is covered with salt and our feet sink 
down into salt almost to the shoe tops. 

The roofs are upheld by pillars of salt, each forty feet 
thick. We stand beside one of these pillars and watch the 
miners at work. Many of them are colored, and their 
dark skins shine out in contrast with their brilliant surround- 



A GREAT SALT MINE 193 

ings. They are shoveling the salt into the cars, and starting 
it on its way to the shaft. 

There comes a car now. It contains three tons of this 
glistening white rock. As we wait, we take out our knives 
and chip some lumps off the white wall. They look like 
pieces of quartz or rock candy. The salt crystals are of 
different sizes, some as small as a pea and others as large as ' 
our fists. Some of the blocks blasted out are so big that 
they must be broken with sledges before they can be loaded 
on the cars. We lick the lumps we have clipped off. They 
taste just like the salt we have on our tables, and we are 
told that this rock is almost pure salt. 

As we continue our travels we shall find salt mines and 
salt wells in other parts of the United States. We have 
salt wells In New York and Michigan, and also in Kansas, 
Ohio, and elsewhere. The brine from these wells is brought 
to the surface and evaporated. A great deal of salt is 
obtained by evaporating water from San Francisco Bay, and 
in Utah there are millions of tons lying on the shores and 
in the waters of Great Salt Lake. We have so much salt, 
in fact, that we shall always have enough for our tables and 
plenty left over for cattle and for the many manufactures 
in which salt is used. One of the largest salt beds of the 
world outside the United States is not far from Krakow in 
Poland. We shall see it when we travel in Europe. 

XXV. TEXAS — WE VISIT THE SULPHUR MINES 

WE are in Texas this morning. Leaving the salt mines, 
we have visited the port of GalVeston, where the 
sea is held back by a great wall; and then the thriving 
city of Houston (hus'tun), and now we have come south to 




IQ4 



WE VISIT THE SULPHUR MINES 195 

Freeport, where the Brazos River flows into the Gulf of 
Mexico. Here is another huge mound somewhat similar to 
that under which we found the bed of salt. The mound is 
only twenty-three feet above the surrounding country, 
and at first sight it seems to be only a hill. It is a hill, 
but it crowns a treasure vault greater than the cave of 
Aladdin. Under the mound, far down below the surface 
of the earth, lie vast deposits of sulphur, from which large 
quantities of this mineral are taken each year. The sulphur- 
bearing rock is more than five hundred feet below the 
ground, while the men and machinery that do the mining 
are all at the surface. 

Before showing us how this can be, the manager of the 
mines gives us some information about sulphur and how it 
is brought from the heart of the earth and prepared for the 
use of man. He takes up a lump of the mineral. It is of a 
light yellow color and as hard as stone. When he touches a 
match to it, it gives forth blue brimstone flames, which 
make us cough, and remind us of Vesuvius and other vol- 
canoes of which we have read. 

The manager tells us that sulphur is employed in all high 
explosives, and that a large part of the ammunition used 
by our soldiers in the World War was made with the aid 
of sulphur found in these mines. He says that sulphur 
forms the basis of many of the fertilizers upon which we 
rely for our food supply, and that it helps to make one of the 
best sprays for destroying the insect pests of our orchards. 
It is used also in the bleaching of paper, and thus has a part 
in almost every newspaper, magazine, and book that is 
printed. The paper of this book is made from wood pulp, 
and sulphur was used to make the paper white enough for 
the printers. Sulphur is a necessity in refining petroleum, 
and it is employed also in refining sugar and in the making 



196 NORTH AMERICA 

of rubber. Indeed, sulphur is used in so many different in- 
dustries that we should find it hard to get along without it. 

In the past most of our sulphur came from the island of 
Sicily. It was dug out from the slopes of Mount Etna, 
from deposits created by the eruptions of that great volcano. 
At the same time we were getting some sulphur from Japan 
and Mexico, all of which was taken either from the craters 
of dead volcanoes or from beds near by. 

This was the situation when it was discovered that there 
was a great bed of sulphur, similar to the one here at Free- 
port, lying about five hundred feet under the marshy 
lands and quicksands along the Gulf of Mexico near Lake 
Charles in Louisiana. For a long time the people tried to 
mine this sulphur, but the ground was so marshy that they 
could not reach it by shafts. It lay there until a chemist 
named Herman Frasch conceived the idea of sinking pipes 
into the sulphur and forcing through them water so hot 
that it would melt the mineral, which as a liquid could 
then be forced by compressed air through other pipes to 
the surface. Frasch made many experiments, and as a 
result wells were drilled down into the sulphur rock, and 
huge hot-water plants and pumping plants were erected, 
by which the mineral thus treated was brought to the 
surface. The sulphur rock at Freeport is much the same as 
in Louisiana, and about the same processes of mining are 
used. 

The manager of the mines takes us first to the hot-water 
plant. The great buildings are filled with huge boilers, 
which heat from eight to twelve million gallons of water 
a day. The fuel is petroleum, which is consumed at the 
rate of four or five thousand barrels every day. It is 
brought in tank steamers from the oil fields about Tampico 
(tam-pe'ko) in Mexico. 




Hardened sulphur inside a bin. Most of the sulphur block has a 

smooth surface. This mound was formed under the pipe through 

which the liquid sulphur comes. 

197 



198 NORTH AMERICA 

As we go by the boilers we are able to look into the 
furnaces and see the flames under them. The heat is so 
intense that the water is raised to one hundred and twenty 
degrees above the boiling point. It is then pumped down 
into the ground through pipes at a pressure of two hundred 
and fifty pounds to the square inch. 

Leaving the hot- water plant, we go to the place where the- 
sulphur is pouring forth from the earth into a walled in- 
closure covering about one acre. The walls are of thick 
planks, and they are built higher and higher as the sulphur 
pours in. Just now they are as high as our heads. 

We climb up and look in. The inclosure is half filled with 
a bed of light yellow sulphur, and from a pipe over the 
center is flowing a stream of boiling liquid which looks like 
clear cider. It is sulphur that has been melted in the bed 
five hundred feet below, and then forced up through a pipe. 
The liquid is so thin that it spreads easily over the yellow 
mass. As it cools it hardens and becomes solid sulphur 
like that lying beneath. It was in this way that all the 
sulphur inside the inclosure was built up from the floor. 

As the liquid continues to flow, the surface of the sulphur 
bed will continue to rise, and the walls of plank about it 
will be built higher and higher until they are forty feet 
from the ground. When this inclosure is filled, the plank 
walls will be taken away and put around another inclosure, ' 
into which the sulphur will pour. The mass of sulphur 
remaining will then be a huge block the color of a canary 
bird when fresh from a bath. It will have a base of an acre, 
the height of a four-story house, the cubic contents of a 
large office building, and will weigh tens of thousands of 
tons. All this will be pure sulphur, and it will have only 
to be blasted down by dynamite, and loaded by steam shov- 
els on the cars waiting to carry it to the ships in which it 



WE VISIT THE SULPHUR MINES 



199 



is sent to the markets. There are several of these yellow 
blocks near the one we see in the process of making, and 
from some of them the sulphur is now being shipped. 

The beds of sulphur at Freeport are said to cover about 
five hundred acres. Together with the deposits in Louisiana, 
they supply so much sulphur that we now produce almost 
all we consume, and are able to export this mineral to other 
parts of the world. 

1. What four southern states lie west of the Mississippi River? 
How large are they? Compare each in size with your own state. 

2. Compare the area of the four states with that of the United 
States. Compare Texas with the United Kingdom. With Germany. 
With France. With New England. 

3. Name the chief products of these states. Trace on the map the 
route of a shipload of fruit from Galveston to the city of New York. 
How far does it travel? 

4. Why do birds come to Louisiana for the winter? 

5. Describe your trip through a salt mine. Mention other parts of 
the United States where salt is produced. Trace a shipment of salt 
from Avery Island to your home. 

6. Write a story of a pinch of salt, telling where it comes from and 
how it is used. Let the salt tell the tale. (See Carpenter's "How the 
World is Fed," chapter 47.) 

7. Locate the sulphur mines of Texas and Louisiana. 

8. Name some of the uses of sulphur. Tell how sulphur is mined in 
Texas. In Sicily. (See Carpenter's "Australia and the Islands of 
the vSea," page 311.) 



XXVI. OUR GREAT FIELDS OF PETROLEUM 

BEFORE making our next journey let us find out 
about another valuable product that lies far down 
under the ground. This is petroleum. The name comes 
from two Greek words meaning rock oil, for petroleum is 
really an oil from the rock. It hes in beds of porous rock 



200 



NORTH AMERICA 



in most cases a quarter of a mile or more below the surface 
of the earth. Sometimes there is gas above the oil, and 

sometimes water below it, 
but the oil, gas, and water 
are held down so tightly 
by the mass of denser rock 
overhead that they cannot 
get out. Indeed, the pres- 
sure is often so great that 
when wells are bored down 
through the rock overhead, 
the oil and gas burst forth 
in a terrible explosion, send- 
ing the heavy tools and other 
machinery used for drilling 



high into the air and creat- 
ing a fountain of oil that 
sometimes extends to a 
height greater than that of 
the highest building in the 
city of New York. If the 
flow is not checked by put- 
ting a cap over the pipe, the 
well covers all the surround- 
ing country with petroleum. 
The oil coats the streams, 
and the cattle will not drink 
the water. It soaks the 
ground and sprays the trees 
and plants with a coating of 

Diagram showing layers of rock, grease. 

two of which contain gas, oil, and Some years ago one of the 
water. richest oil wells of the world 




OUR GREAT FIELDS OF PETROLEUM 



20I 




An oil "gusher." The pressure is so great that the petroleum is 

sent hundreds of feet into the air. Derricks like those at the left 

are used in drilling the wells. 



was struck near Tampico in Mexico, not far from the Gulf 
of Mexico. The oil gushed forth so rapidly that it soon 
reached the fire of the engine, and the great fountain be- 
came a mass of flames fifty feet wide and more than a 
thousand feet high. It made such a bright light that it 
was seen by ships in the Gulf one hundred miles off, and 
newspapers could be read at night seventeen miles away. 
That well was struck on the fourth of July, and it was the 
greatest fourth of July celebration on record. The oil 
burned for two months at the rate of from sixty thousand 
to seventy-five thousand barrels per day, and when the 
fire was put out the oil flowed forth so rapidly that a 



202 NORTH AMERICA 

reservoir a quarter of a mile long was made by banking up 
the earth near by to contain it. This great well was later 
surpassed by one near Tuxpam (toos'pam), Mexico, which 
yielded one hundred and sixty thousand barrels of petro- 
leum a day. In other wells the pressure is not so great, 
and in some the oil has to be pumped to the surface. 

The history of this wonderful product is very interesting. 
Petroleum was known to the ancient Greeks, Romans, 
and Persians, but it was not used commercially until oil 
wells were drilled in our own country about the time of 
the Civil War. Before that the only artificial light came 
from candles of tallow or wax, or little wicks of cloth or 
fiber floating in saucers of lard or sperm oil. This was so 
even in the Oil regions, where now and then little pools of 
petroleum had seeped forth and lay upon the surface of the 
ground. About the only use of this oil was as a medicine. 
The Indians used it for rheumatism and sore throat, and 
to make their hair grow. But the farmers thought it 
injured their land, and one man who lived in the Pennsyl- 
vania oil country sold his farm and moved to Canada be- 
cause the oil spoiled the drinking water for his cattle. 
When men began to drill oil wells, that farm brought a 
fortune. 

It was near Titusville, Pennsylvania, that the first oil 
well was bored. That was in 1858. The man who made 
the experiment was Colonel E. L. Drake. He thought 
that the oil on top of the ground proved that there must 
be a great quantity of oil below. When he reached the 
depth of sixty-nine feet, the petroleum gushed forth at 
the rate of thirty-five barrels a day, and when other wells 
were sunk near by, more and more oil came forth. It was 
found that the oil could be refined and used for lighting. 
Lamps were made for it, and a great business sprang up 



OUR GREAT FIELDS OF PETROLEUM 203 

in producing and refining petroleum. It was soon found 
that the real source of the oil was much farther down, 
and the depth of the wells was gradually extended until 
there are now many that go from a quarter of a mile to 
more than a half mile below the surface. There is an oil 
well in West Virginia which is more than a mile deep. 

As new uses for petroleum were created, men traveled 
all over the world looking for oil, and new fields were dis- 
covered. Since then we have found petroleum in so many 
different parts of the United States that we now produce 
about two thirds of all the oil that comes from the earth. 
In 19 18 that one product was worth as much as all the gold 
and silver mined by the whole world in that year; and 
since Colonel Drake sank his first well we have taken out 
about eight hundred million tons of petroleum from the 
wells of the United States. This is enough, at forty tons 
to the car and forty feet to each car on the track, to fill a 
solid train of oil cars six times as long as the distance 
around the world at the equator. 

Next to the United States in the rank of oil producers, 
come Mexico and Russia, and after them the Dutch East 
Indies, India, Persia, and some territory in Europe at the 
foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Some petroleum 
has been found in Canada, some in Peru, Colombia, and 
other parts of South America, and a little in Egypt; but 
so far as is known a large part of the oil of the world lies 
in different parts of the United States. 

Our petroleum is found here and there from the Appa- 
lachian Mountains, where oil was first discovered, to south- 
ern California on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and from 
the Gulf of Mexico to far-off Alaska. We have ten valua- 
ble oil fields. The Appalachian field takes in New York, 
Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky,' 



204 NORTH AMERICA 

and Tennessee. The Lima-Indiana field is in western 
Ohio and eastern Indiana, and the lUinois field is in the 
southern part of that state. Going westward we find the 
Mid-Continent oil field in Kansas and Oklahoma, and 
then come the fields of northern Texas and northern 
Louisiana and those of the Gulf, where we are now. In 
the Rocky Mountains we have another oil region com- 
prising parts of Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and 
New Mexico, and there is also a rich field in southern Cali- 
fornia, where as much as one hundred million barrels have 
been taken out in one year. The Alaska field has not 
been developed, but that territory has places where the pe- 
troleum oozes out of the ground, and it is thought it may 
have rich oil deposits. 

XXVII. TRAVELS IN THE OIL REGIONS — HOW 
KEROSENE AND GASOLINE ARE MADE 

LEAVING Freeport, we motor back to Houston and 
.-• find oil being taken out within a few miles of that 
city. We travel northward, passing other oil wells, and 
enter Oklahoma, which is one of the chief oil-producing 
states of the Union. The city of Tulsa, which in igoo 
was only a village, began to grow as soon as petroleum was 
discovered near by. It now has tens of thousands of people 
with fine homes, and office buildings ten or fifteen stories 
in height, all founded on oil. Here we visit the wells and 
tank farms, and then move southward through the oil 
fields of Arkansas and Louisiana until we reach Port 
Arthur, Texas, where are great oil refineries almost on the 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 

In this long journey we have been able to see how pe- 



TRAVELS IN THE OIL REGIONS 



205 



troleum is brought forth from the depths of the earth and 
transported to the refineries where it is prepared for the 
uses of man. In an oil field, wells are drilled to find 
just where the petroleum lies and to bring it to the surface. 
Except by drilling no one can tell where the oil is, and 
many wells are bored which give no oil at all. In others 
the oil does not flow without pumping. 

Taking care of the oil is one of the great problems of 
our oil supply. It is carried away from the wells in pipes 
which run along the surface of the ground to huge steel 
tanks, one of which may hold as much as fifty thousand 
barrels or more. From the bottom of these tanks are other 
pipes, some of which run for hundreds of miles to refining 
centers on the seaboard or elsewhere. Great pipe lines 
connect the oil fields of Oklahoma with the Atlantic sea- 




t^i^^^^^^M^l^^- 



Fifty thousand barrels of petroleum on fire near Beaumont, Texas. 

CARP. N. AMER.— 13 



2o6 NORTH AMERICA 

board by way of Illinois, passing through one oil field or 
another until they reach the ocean. Other pipe lines run 
from Oklahoma to Port Arthur and to Baton Rouge (bat'un 
robzhO . A vast network of pipes connects the Appalachian 
fields with the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, 

The pipes used to carry the oil are of iron. They range 
in size from two to twelve inches, but the most common 
sizes are from six to ten inches. Along each pipe line at 
intervals from fifteen to thirty miles are pumping stations 
where powerful pumps force the oil onward. The crude 
petroleum is transported also in tank cars, but most of 
such cars are used in moving the oil after it has been 
turned into kerosene or gasoHne, or fuel or lubricating oils. 
For transportation by sea, tank steamers are largely 
used, and the petroleum is sometimes pumped from the 
wells directly into ships which carry it to the refineries. 

A large part of the crude petroleum produced in the 
southwestern states comes in pipes to Beaumont (bo'mont) 
and Port Arthur. It is stored here in tank farms, great 
collections of steel tanks which store the oil until the 
refineries are ready to use it. These farms are generally 
elevated above the refineries, with which they are con- 
nected by other pipe lines so that all that is necessary is to 
open the pipes and let the oil flow to where it is needed. 

Before we go through the refineries, we should know 
something of the most important things they produce. 
The raw material is this crude petroleum, and the manu- 
factured goods are the gasoline which runs our automobiles 
and gas engines; the kerosene which still makes a large 
part of the light of the world; the fuel oil which runs the 
greatest ships of our navy and merchant marine and moves 
the trains on many of our railroads; and the lubricating 
oil which forms the grease that helps the industrial world 



KEROSENE AND GASOLINE 207 

to go around. One does not often think of lubricating oil 
as an important product of petroleum, but it is used in 
every kind of machinery from the tiniest wrist watch to 
the biggest steam engine. It is necessary for every loco- 
motive and dynamo, for our woolen and cotton mills, and 
for our airplanes, battleships, and submarines. In addi- 
tion are the minor products of petroleum, such as benzine, 
vaseline, paraffin, road oil, and asphalt. Indeed, so many 
things are made by the refineries that we cannot mention 
them all. 

But here we are at the refinery. It is one of many sit- 
uated near Port Arthur, within a rifle shot of the Gulf of 
Mexico and at what might be called the spigot of the pipe 
lines which pump in tens of thousands of barrels of petro- 
leum from the great oil fields of the Southwest every day. 
The plant we visit covers hundreds of acres, and over a 
thousand acres more are hidden by oil tanks. It is much 
like a city, as it is divided into blocks and streets along 
which the refining goes on. Some of the buildings are filled 
with stills, where the oil is heated to a vapor and then passed 
through cold water to condense it into separate products. 
Other streets are lined with ovens as high as a two-story 
house, and some of the ovens are so large that a train of 
cars could be run through them and not touch the walls. 

Here and there is a tank farm in the heart of the city. 
The tanks are of different sizes. The large ones are for 
fuel and lubricating oils, and the smaller ones for kerosene 
and gasoline. Each is connected with pipes which run to 
the port so that almost any product of the refinery can be 
put into the ships by pumps or by gravity. The kerosene 
and gasoline tanks are painted white. This is that they 
may not absorb the rays of the sun, which in this semi- 
tropical climate might cause an explosion. Sometimes a 



2o8 



NORTH AMERICA 



tank catches fire. The oil bursts forth in great quantities 
of flame and smoke, and blazing rivers of fire flow over the 
landscape. 

Going through the refinery, we follow the crude petro- 
leum through the many processes necessary to fit it for the 
various products. The work is largely one of distilling. 



Prodacf/on 




Or-3i^//y /7oi,v//oe5 
/^ z^/'e/d 5for£>ge 




m lj ^ 



f/e/c/ 5/orsge. 



i/aier rran5por?sf/o/7 

/n 
TanA Steamer 






Pomp/ng' 5f<3f/or?. 



r/e/d U3e. 
IVasfe Seepage 






(l-UFU-t (PUFU-t fTlFrni. 



f{'a//road7r<9n5por/a/^/o/7 /o ^/7A Cors. 



— Crude 0//P/joe l/ne 



73n/< f^rm 3for<3^<s. 



Pamping Sfgh'on /n 

Pipeline 7ran3porf<3t-/or?. 



PlCTOR.mL Dlfl6R.flM 

of the 

CRUbtOiL Industry 



/fundourn Lines. 



ra ^ ^ 



nun 




defined Oii 5tor3ge- 



^e/y'nery. 



The oil is heated and part of it is turned into a vapor which 
is sent through coil after coil of pipes bedded in huge vats 
of cold water. As the vapor touches the cold pipes it con- 
denses and flows out as a new product. The oil is then 
heated further, and another part is vaporized and con- 
densed into another product. The new products may be 
heated more gradually and distilled again into products 
more carefully separated. 



KEROSENE AND GASOLINE 209 

Kerosene is distilled to make gasoline, and the gasoline 
also is refined before it is ready for sale. During these 
processes the oils are washed again and again with soap and 
water to take out their impurities. 

In making lubricating oil the petroleum is run through 
hot water and cold water, and in the making of parafhn 
the oil has to be frozen as well as boiled. In some of the 
processes the petroleum and its products are treated with 
chemicals, including sulphuric acid, made from such 
sulphur as we saw mined at Freeport. 

During our trip through the oil fields, we have passed 
towns whose streets seemed to be filled with torchlight 
processions. A second look showed us that the torches 
are stationary, and that each is a round black pipe out of 
which comes a waving flame. This flame is produced by 
the natural gas that flows from the depths of the earth. 
It comes from the rock hundreds of feet below the surface 
of the ground. Such gas is common to the oil regions, and 
there are usually great quantities of gas on top of the oil as 
the two lie in the earth. 

Men drill for this gas much as they do for oil, and the 
gas may pour forth from a well for months and years before 
it stops. Natural gas is used for Hghting and heating, and 
also as a fuel for manufacturing. Gasoline also is made 
from it. We are now taking natural gas out of twenty- 
three states, and those which produce the most are West 
Virginia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 

1. What is petroleum? Tell the story of the first oil well, and 
compare it in depth with the oil wells of to-day. 

2. Where are the chief oil fields of the United States? Of the 
world? How does the United States rank among them? 

3. Name the principal methods of transporting petroleum. What 
is a tank car? A tank farm? A pipe line? A refinery? 



2IO NORTH AMERICA 

4. What are the most important things we get from petroleum? 
Mention some of the uses of each. For what is paraffin used? Vase- 
line? Asphalt? 

5. If petroleum should suddenly be taken away from the world 
what would happen? 

6. Visit a great refinery and tell what you see. 

7. Describe natural gas and give some of its uses. 



XXVIII. UP THE MISSISSIPPI TO ST. LOUIS 

WE have come from Port Arthur to New Orleans by 
train and are now beginning our tour of the fertile 
Mississippi valley, which comprises about one third of our 
country. 

Our first travels through it will be by steamer in order 
that we may get some idea of the mighty river. We could 
go by train, for the vast region is covered by a network of 
railways, and the commerce of the valley is now carried 
chiefly on the cars rather than by boats. In the past, the 
river had hundreds of steamers, boats, and barges, and a 
great part of the merchandise that went up and down the 
valley was carried that way. To-day nearly everything 
goes by train, and it is only certain of the heavier com- 
modities and the products of the principal cities on the 
river that are carried by water. 

We find a steamer leaving New Orleans for St. Louis, and 
take passage. Within a short time, the great port is lost to 
view and we are winding our way up this mighty stream, 
the longest river of the world. 

The first thing we do is to try to get some idea of the 
Mississippi system. We go to the chart room, and the 
captain shows us his maps. As we look at them we see that 
the system may be compared to a huge tree, with its roots 



UP THE MISSISSIPPI TO ST. LOUIS 211 

in the Gulf of Mexico and its branches reaching out into 
many of our central states. We can pick out the Missouri, 
which flows into the main stream near St. Louis, and as we 
trace the latter river to its source we find it is much longer 
than the Mississippi proper. Indeed, the system should be 
called the Missouri-Mississippi, for the Missouri is its 
fountain head, having its source in the Rocky Mountains 
more than a mile above the sea. From that point to the 
Gulf of Mexico the distance, by the windings of the river, is 
more than forty-two hundred miles, making the stream far 
longer than either the Nile or the Amazon, the longest 
rivers of other continents. 

The Mississippi proper rises in Lake Itas'ca, not far from 
the borders of Canada. It winds its way in a crystal 
stream through numerous lakes to Minneapolis, where it 
drops down over the falls of St. Anthony, giving the motive 
power that grinds much of the wheat of the United States 
into flour. From there to St. Louis, where the Mississippi 
flows into the muddy Missouri, the distance is less than 
seven hundred miles, and the river is navigable from St. 
Paul all the way to the Gulf. Many of the tributaries of the 
Mississippi-Missouri are navigable. Indeed one might 
cross the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Liverpool 
five times and not go as far as he could sail on this river 
system. 

Our steamer makes us think of a floating house of three 
stories. The lower stories are filled with freight, and above 
them are the sleeping and dining rooms. The hurricane 
deck is the yard where we play and stroll about, watching 
the scenes on the banks. We are moved along by the great 
paddle wheels at the sides of the boat, which the steam 
engines keep going day and night. 

How green and beautiful everything is ! 




212 



UP THE MISSISSIPPI TO ST. LOUIS 213 

At times we are sailing through forests of cypress trees, 
loaded with Spanish moss. The trees are so bound together 
with vines and dense vegetation that they form green walls 
on each side of the wide, yellow river. The only living 
things we can see are the birds which hop from branch to 
branch, and now and then a few people at the clearings, 
where little farms have been cut out of the woods. 

Now the Mississippi widens, and we seem to be traveKng 
through a series of lakes. We pass swamps and float by 
fields of sugar cane and cotton, in which many colored 
people are working. 

Now and then we stop to take on or leave freight and pas- 
sengers at the cities and villages on the banks. Rough- 
looking men and boys, most of them colored, load and 
unload the steamers. They sing as they work, making a 
great noise as they roll the huge packages and bales down 
the gangplank. 

At Vicksburg we stay for some hours. Here are elevators 
on the banks of the river, and bales of cotton, barrels of 
flour, and bags of grain are rolled down into the steamers 
which ply between here and New Orleans. All kinds of 
things are brought to our steamer, and among them hun- 
dreds of crates of chickens to be sold in St. Louis. Each 
crate is just high enough for the chickens to stand up inside 
it. They poke their heads out of the slats, and squawk 
complainingly at us as the men carry them upon the boat. 

On the way to Memphis we pass occasional steamers 
loaded with cotton, going down to New Orleans. Memphis 
is the most important city on the river between the mouth 
of the Ohio and New Qrleans. It is famous as a cotton and 
lumber market. It has many railway trunk lines, and 
steel bridges here cross the river. Memphis is situated on 
a bluff overlooking the Mississippi at a place where the 



214 NORTH AMERICA 

Indians used to paddle across in their canoes before our 
country was settled. 

How the Mississippi winds in and out as it flows on its 
course! From Cairo (ka'ro) to New Orleans it is like an 
enormous snake, only more crooked than any snake could 
possibly be. Mark Twain, who was once a Mississippi 
pilot, said that if somebody should pare an apple so as to 
leave the whole peeling in one long strip, and should throw 
the peeling over his shoulder, as it fell on the floor it would 
look much like the lower part of the Mississippi River. As 
our steamer winds around through the curves, we see other 
boats sailing to the right and left in the winding current 
above and below us; and there are places where we can get 
off upon the land, and walk across the fields a half mile or 
so, and there wait for the steamer, which has to go a dozen 
miles around to reach the same point. 

As we make our way onward, we notice that banks, or 
levees, have been built up on each side of the river to keep 
the water from running over the land. There are eighteen 
hundred miles of such levees, on one side or the other. It 
has cost many millions of dollars to build them, and every 
year Congress gives a large sum to protect the land along 
them and to improve the navigation of the Mississippi. 

Are the levees strong enough to make the people safe 
from floods? 

Yes; sometimes, but not always. The Mississippi is 
hard to control. It is always changing its course, always 
wearing off the land in some places, and piling it up in 
others. It seems to be ever looking for a weak spot where 
it can break through. The least crack is soon enlarged by 
the water flowing through it, and if not stopped at once, 
the water will pour out over the land. 

The moment a break is discovered the people rush out to 



UP THE MISSISSIPPI TO ST. LOUIS 215 

fill it. They drive down stakes on each side of the crack, 
and put bags of earth between them. They take boats and 
throw all kinds of stuff into the break, in order to stop the 
stream before it can make the hole larger. If the break 
becomes ten feet wide, the water dissolves the bank as 
though it were sugar. It cuts through the earth like a knife 
and when the break has reached a width of a hundred feet 
or more, the banks drop down in slices half an acre in thick- 
ness, and the muddy river rushes with a loud noise over 
the country. 

At such times farms are often swallowed up; and thou- 
sands of acres become lakes and ponds. When the cattle, 
horses, and sheep see the waters advancing, they run to 
the higher places, but sometimes they starve before the 
river subsides or the people can come in boats to take them 
away. Houses are torn loose by the floods and one may 
sometimes see buildings, with families on the roofs, float- 
ing down the river. The woodpiles on the banks are car- 
ried away, and large trees torn up by the roots are borne 
rapidly along by the current. 

On our voyage up the Mississippi we are stopped now and 
then by the ships and barges coming down. We pass long 
rafts of lumber from the Red River and the upper Missis- 
sippi. They have little houses upon them, in which the 
lumbermen live during the voyage. 

There are huge barges loaded with produce, fastened to- 
gether in blocks, and pushed by steamboats behind them. 
There comes a steamship now, shoving along a half-dozen 
huge barges piled high with coal from the mines of Pennsyl- 
vania. Notice how she puffs as she forces them onward. 
The barges are fastened together in pairs side by side. 
Each barge is as long as a city lot and almost as wide. It 
is as deep as from the floor to the ceiHng of an ordinary 



2i6 NORTH AMERICA 

room, and if we should imagine our schoolroom packed 
full of coal, we may have an idea of the amount that each 
of these great flat boats is carrying down to New Orleans. 

As we approach the city of Cairo we meet many barges 
of coal which have come through the Ohio River from the 
coal fields of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, most 
of them having been loaded at Pittsburgh. The Ohio 
River may be called the coal chute for the cities of the lower 
Mississippi valley. It brings much of the coal that makes 
steam for the factories of Cincinnati, Louisville, and the 
cities on the lower river. 

Leaving Cairo, we steam northward through a rich farm- 
ing country and soon reach St. Louis. This city is the most 
important of all upon the Mississippi River. It is one of 
the chief commercial and manufacturing cities of the United 
States, and it has a great trade with all parts of the lower 
Mississippi valley. St. Louis is situated on a limestone bluff 
on the west bank of the river. It is about seven hundred 
miles from New Orleans, six hundred miles from St. Paul, 
and about twenty miles south of the mouth of the Missouri. 
The town was laid out by Frenchmen and named St. Louis 
in honor of King Louis XV of France. 

It is the situation of St. Louis that has made it important. 
Lying on the Mississippi between the mouths of the Mis- 
souri and the Ohio, it was an excellent place for trade, 
because goods could be easily shipped from it to all points 
on the Mississippi and its tributaries. As railways were 
built, it was found that the situation was equally good for 
a great railway center, and to-day many of the trunk 
lines between the East and the West pass through here. 
The city is one of the railroad gateways to Mexico, and 
much of our trade with that country passes through it. 
Other railways reach to every part of the United States. 




Street in St. Louis 



There are many tall buildings like these. 

217 




NORTH CENTRAL STATES, 



2 20 NORTH AMERICA 

During our stay in St. Louis we visit the Union Railway 
Station, a fine building which, when it was built, was one of 
the finest of the world. We take automobiles and motor 
about through the parks and enjoy a trip through the resi- 
dence section noted for its beautiful gardens and yards. 

XXIX. HARNESSING THE MISSISSIPPI — THE 
KEOKUK DAM, AND FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY 

WE shall continue our travels on the Mississippi to 
the city of Ke'okuk, Iowa, where the river furnishes 
the power for one of the largest electric plants of the United 
States, and then go by train to different parts of the corn 
belt, which contain some of our best farming regions. 

Leaving St. Louis, we pass many towns and villages on 
the banks of the river. The country is well settled, and the 
people are prosperous. About twenty miles north of St. 
Louis we pass the mouth of the Missouri, and see the yellow 
muddy waters of the latter river mixed with the clear 
stream of the Mississippi proper. The colors of the two 
rivers are very different, and they flow for some distance 
side by side before they are mingled. 

As we go on up the river w^e pass many islands, and wind 
in and out among beautiful patches of green. Some of the 
islands are covered with willows, and others have maples 
and oaks. The largest have small farms upon them. 
The channels separating many of them from the nearest 
bank of the river have been so filled in with silt that at 
times of low water the islands appear to be part of the 
mainland. There are six hundred such islands between 
St. Paul and St. Louis, many of them two or three miles 
long. 





'1 




^~'- 



Our steamer passing through the canal around Keokuk Dam. 




Generators in the Keokuk power house. In the comer, a turbine. 



222 NORTH AMERICA 

Shortly before reaching Keokuk we stop at Hannibal, 
Missouri, where Mark Twain spent his boyhood. The cap- 
tain points out a hill where Tom Sawyer and his boy friends 
used to dig for treasure, saying there is a cave near by in 
which Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn planned some of 
their notable adventures. 

At Keokuk our steamer passes through the canal built to 
carry vessels around the great dam, by which the powder of 
the river has been harnessed and made to work for man. 
The dam gives a fall of twenty-three feet, the river pouring 
down at the rate of five hundred thousand cubic feet per 
second upon huge turbine wheels. Each turbine is whirled 
around with such force that the dynamo connected with 
it generates electric power able to do as much work as a 
line of two-horse teams twelve miles in length. The horse 
power already developed is more than two hundred thou- 
sand, and there is one hundred thousand horse power more 
that may yet be developed. The power thus created is 
sent by means of cables of copper wire to many cities and 
towns. Some of it goes to St. Louis, more than one hun- 
dred miles away. It runs the street cars of that city, and 
we are told the connection is so delicate that whenever 
a car stops in St. Louis the fact is registered at Keokuk. 

While our steamer is going through the locks of the canal, 
we get off and take a walk along the great dam. It is the 
longest in the world excepting the dam at Assuan (as- 
swanO, which holds back the Nile in order that Egypt may 
have a regular water supply throughout the year. The 
Keokuk dam is built of concrete, and the flow of the 
water is regulated by gates which can be raised and 
lowered to allow the river to go through or to be held 
back at will. When the gates are closed the water backs 
up so that It forms a lake one hundred and forty miles long. 



THE FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY 223 

Passing through the power house, we enter the room con- 
taining the dynamos in which the electricity is generated. 
Each rests over a well at the bottom of which is a turbine 
wheel whirled around by the waters of the Mississippi 
pressing upon it. The foreman describes the machinery. 
He tells us that the cable which carries the electricity over 
the country consists of nineteen copper wires twisted to- 
gether. It is a half inch in diameter, and it is carried across 
the country on steel towers as high as an eight-story build- 
ing, and so connected with the ground that they are pro- 
tected from lightning. 

We shall find other large power plants along the river, 
especially at the falls of St. Anthony in Minneapolis, 
where the Mississippi pitches down over falls and rapids 
amounting to eighty feet in one half mile. From this 
descent, more than forty thousand horse power has been 
developed, and additional locks and dams are being made 
below the falls which will double this power. Even then 
it will not be one third as great as that which can be 
developed here at Keokuk. 

1. Compare the Mississippi River in length with the other great 
streams of North America. (See Table, page 4Q5.) With the Nile; 
the Amazon; the Volga. 

2. What are the two chief sources of the Mississippi-Missouri? 
Which is farthest away from the mouth? 

3. Describe our steamer and our trip to St. Louis. Mention some 
of the goods shipped on the river. Trace a coal barge from Pittsburgh 
to New Orleans. What cities does it pass? 

4. What is a levee? Why is it necessary? 

5. Locate St. Louis, Memphis, and Vicksburg. Compare St. Louis 
with ten other large cities of the United States. (See Table, page 494.) 

6. Where is Cairo, Illinois? Cairo, Egypt? Pronounce the two 
names. 

7. Who was Mark Twain? What are some of his works? 

8. Describe the Keokuk dam. Tell why it is important to St. Louis. 



224 NORTH AMERICA 

XXX. IN THE CORN BELT 

WE are now in the heart of the corn belt. From St. 
Louis for many miles to the northward, the Missis- 
sippi is Hned on both sides with great tracts of corn, and 
we can travel north and south or east and west for hours 
on fast railway trains without coming to the end of the 
cornfields. This region furnishes such a large part of the 
food supply of the United States that we decide to ride 
out on the cars into the country to see something of this 
wonderful crop. 

We have now left Keokuk and are. riding across the 
country between walls of green stalks, the leaves of which 
rustle in the wind made by the train as it flies through them. 
When our cars pass over an embankment above the fields, 
we look out of the windows over a sea of green and gold 
spotted with feathery tassels. The corn is turning yellow 
and the fat ears have husks of a lemon hue. 

The crop is now ready for harvest. The corn was planted 
last spring. The ground was first plowed and harrowed, 
and marked out in rows. Three or four of the little grains 
were dropped in each hill where the rows crossed, and were 
covered with earth. The plants soon came up through 
the soil and grew rapidly under the warm sun. The fields 
were cultivated and kept free from weeds, and now each 
stalk of ripe corn is about twice as high as our heads. We 
can see the men in the fields cutting the stalks. They are 
putting them into shocks; later on they will strip off the 
husks and carry the ears to market. 

Let us get down from the train and walk through the 
fields. We pull off one of the ears and look at it. We have 
in our hands the most wonderful food grain known to man. 
It is a grain which belongs to our continent, for corn was 




A young corn club member in a field of com ready for cutting. 

The stalks are three times as tall as he is. The ears, covered with 

husks, may be seen on the stalks, about midway of their height. 



CARP. N. AMER. — 14 



225 



226 NORTH AMERICA 

not known in Europe until America was discovered. Now 
count the kernels upon this single ear. There are about 
eight hundred. Some of the ears have over nine hundred 
and a few one thousand or more. Think of a mother who 
has nine hundred children. The parent-grain sometimes 
produces even more than that, for there are often two ears 
on one stalk. 

Pick out one of the kernels and bite it open. How hard 
it is and how white its inside! If you should place it under 
a microscope, you would see that it is composed of thousands 
of cells, each containing starch and other material good 
for food. 

Corn is one of the best of foods for both man and beast. 
We grind it into meal for bread, mush, and cakes. We 
make hominy and other breakfast foods of it, and the fine 
cornstarch that is used in puddings. It forms the chief 
food of our farm animals, and we consume it also as pork, 
mutton, and beef, and in geese, ducks, and chickens. 
When we eat our turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas 
we are really consuming a part of the corn crop. Much 
of our sirup and sugar comes from corn, and almost all of 
our starch. We use corn husks for mattresses; and the 
leaves and stalks are fed to horses, cattle, and sheep. 
The whole plants cut green, chopped in small pieces, and 
kept in silos, are the chief food of our dairy cows, and so we 
have corn again in our cream and milk and in butter and 
cheese. 

Indeed corn is more valuable than any other crop of the 
United States. The amount we produce in one year is 
sometimes more than three billion bushels of shelled corn, 
and it sells sometimes at such a price per bushel as to be 
worth two or three billion dollars. This sum is twenty or 
thirty times as much as all the gold we mine in one year. 



IN THE CORN BELT 



227 



and three or four times as much as all the gold and silver 
which has been taken out of the whole earth in any year 

since the world be- 

gan. 

Think of the mass 
or mountain of corn 
that three billion 
bushels would make 
if it could be col- 
lected together! We 
can appreciate it bet- 
ter by loading it upon 
wagons. We shall 
put eighty bushels, 
or about two tons, 
in each wagon, which 
would be a good load 
for a team of horses. 
We shall try to load 
the whole crop in 
that way, and shall 
allow each team and 
wagon forty feet on 
the roadway, put- 
ting the noses of the 
horses at the tail- 
board of the wagon 
in front of them. 
How far away will 
the first wagon be 
when the last bushel 
is loaded? Suppose we start here at the Mississippi 
River. Would it be at Pittsburgh on the other side 



* 


1 

^ 



Concrete silo of the most modern type. 



228 



NORTH AMERICA 



5C-r-- 



of the Ohio? No. In Boston, on the coast of the Atlan- 
tic? No. If we could bridge the ocean, would it be 
in Paris or Berlin? No. The caravan of wagons would 
extend far beyond that. It would reach on over Russia; 
it would cross Siberia, go over the Pacific Ocean and come 
back to the Mississippi valley where we are now. Even 
then not one tenth of the mass would have been loaded. 
The whole crop would require a train of wagons more than 
three hundred thousand miles long. If the train could 
travel through the skies, it would reach farther than from 
the earth to the moon. 

Our country produces three fourths of the com of the 
world. Of the remainder, some is grown in Mexico and 
Argentina, and some in Europe and Asia. Three fourths 

of our product comes 
from what is known 
as the corn belt, a re- 
gion which stretches 
from central Ohio to 
central Kansas and 
from Kentucky to 
Wisconsin. Among 
the best corn states 
Corn-growing regions. ^j.^ jo^a, Illinois, 

Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri, but there are 
thirty other states in each of which the crop annually 
amounts to two million bushels or more. 

The corn belt is one of the richest farming districts of the 
world. It is for the most part prairie with a soil so free 
from stones that the land can be farmed by tractors, and 
the rows kept clean by cultivators which will till both 
sides of one row, and often two or three rows, as they go 
over the fields. This region is the great fattening place for 




1^ 



I Heavy production 
Lighter production 





This South Carolma boy raised 22S bushels of corn on one acre. 

229 



230 NORTH AMERICA 

our live stock. It contains about one half of the hogs of 
the United States and almost three fourths of the cattle 
intended for meat. It is in the shape of meat that much of 
our corn is exported. 

As we travel through the com belt we shall now and then 
meet farmers' boys who belong to the corn clubs. Great as 
the corn crop is, it is said that it might be doubled and 
trebled if the best seeds were used and the planting and 
cultivation properly done. In order to raise more and 
better corn our Department of Agriculture at Washington 
has encouraged the boys to form clubs, each member of 
which tries to see how much corn he can produce on one 
acre of ground. The department sends the directions for 
planting and growing and the rules for judging the crop. 
The boy of each club who raises the most and best corn gets 
a prize. 

There are thousands of these clubs scattered throughout 
the corn belt and especially throughout the southern states, 
and many of their members have raised three or four times 
as much corn as is grown in the fields all around them. 
The average yield in our country per acre is seldom much 
more than twenty-five bushels of shelled corn, but many of 
these boys of ten, twelve, and fourteen years of age have 
each raised more than one hundred bushels of corn on one 
acre of ground. Jerry Moore of South Carolina grew two 
hundred and twenty-eight bushels, Ben Leith of Georgia 
raised two hundred and fourteen bushels, and Bennie Bee- 
son of Mississippi, two hundred and twenty-seven bushels 
of corn on one acre of ground. Junius Hill of Alabama 
grew more than two hundred bushels on an acre at a cost 
of less than nine cents per bushel, and his corn crop sold 
for more than one dollar per bushel. 

In many places the bankers, merchants, and others club 



IN THE CORN BELT 231 

together and give the prizes. One Oklahoma boy won a 
gold watch in that way. An Indiana boy won a bicycle, and 
many boys have received prizes of trips to Washington for 
their work in the corn clubs. One boy made enough out of 
one crop of several acres to buy an automobile, and nearly 
all of the members have been successful in raising better 
corn than their fathers, who did not select the best seed 
nor cultivate after the rules of the Department of Agri- 
culture. 

In the same corn region there are many pig clubs, each 
member of which raises one pig or more according to rule, 




These two pigs are of the same litter. The one at the left was 

raised by this boy, who is a member of a pig dub. The other pig, 

which was raised by his father, is not half so large. 

and there are baby beef clubs which raise beeves. There 
are poultry clubs to which the girls belong, and tomato clubs 
and canning clubs where the girls raise their own tomatoes 
and put them up in cans for the market. One tomato club 
girl has raised seven thousand pounds of tomatoes on one 
tenth of an acre, and a chicken club girl cleared one hundred 
and sixty-five dollars from thirty hens in one year. 



232 



NORTH AMERICA 



1. Bring some Indian corn to class. Describe an ear and let it tell 
the story of how it was raised. 

2. Why is the corn crop important to the United States? Where 
did the plant come from and how is it raised? Name six important 
corn-growing states. What other countries raise corn? (See Table, 
page 501.) 

3. For what is corn used? In what form is much of our crop ex- 
ported? 

4. What are the corn clubs? Tell all you can about them and how 
to know good corn. What is the average crop per acre? How much 
did some of the boys raise? 



3>»C< 



XXXI. IN OUR GREAT WHEAT LANDS 

TRAVELING northward up the Mississippi valley, we 
come at last to St. Paul, and thence go by street car 
to Minneapolis, the largest flour-milling center of the 
United States and of the world. 

During the latter part of our journey we saw less and less 
corn and are now in a region where one of the chief crops is 
wheat. West and north of the Mississippi in both Canada 
and the United States are some of the best wheat lands upon 
earth. Wheat is grown in many states, but nowhere to so 
great an extent as in North Dakota, Minnesota, and 
Kansas. It is raised in large quantities in the Columbia 
River basin and also in Canada and in the basin of the 
Plata in South America. In the Old World, about half 
of all the wheat produced comes from Europe, and a large 
amount from India. The chief wheat-producing regions 
of Europe are in the plains of southern Russia, in the 
Danube valley, and in France, Italy, and Germany. 

Wheat is one of the most important of our food grains. 
It forms the bread of about one third of the world, and 



IN OUR GREAT WHEAT LANDS 



^3?> 



most of us eat some of it at every meal. The wheat plant 
is one of the grass family to which belong also corn, oats, 
and all of the other cereals. We know that the grain has 
been used for ages and some people say it originated in the 
Holy Land. In the time of the Pharaohs, Egypt was 
famous for its wheat, and on the walls of some of the 
ancient tombs are pictures showing how the crop was 
raised there. The grain was not known in our hemisphere 
until Columbus came. Nevertheless the New World has 
some of the best wheat soil upon earth and the United 
States now grows more than any other country of the world. 

In Minnesota and in North and South Dakota to the 
west of us is the Red River valley, where many wheat 
farms are managed on a grand scale. Each large farm has 
its bookkeeper and overseers. It employs hundreds of 
men, and buys its suppHes by the carload. 

The soil of the Red River valley is a rich, black earth 
free from stones and almost as level as a floor. It was once 
the bed of the ancient Lake Agassiz (ag'a-se) , which existed 
here when the great ice sheet overspread the northern 
part of our continent, and dammed up the valley so that 
the water could not flow to Hudson Bay. This lake was 
larger than all of the Great Lakes put together. 

But suppose we visit one of these Dakota wheat farms. 
It is so large that we are several hours riding back and 
forth over it in our motor cars. Some of the fields contain 
as much as five hundred acres. The men labor in com- 
panies under mounted overseers who gallop from one place 
to another to see that the work is properly done. Some- 
times a score of plows moved by tractors directed by the 
men who sit upon them, move across the field together. 
They may plow several acres at a single trip, for the field 
is almost a mile long. The ground is harrowed in much 




234 



IN OUR GREAT WHEAT LANDS 235 

the same way, and the wheat is drilled in by seeders, or 
grain drills. These are long boxes mounted on wheels. 
From the bottom of each box tubes about as big around as 
a broomstick run down through hollow steel teeth. The 
wheat grains fall through the tubes into the furrows made 
by the teeth, and the earth falling back behind the teeth 
covers them. In this way a large tract of wheat can be 
planted in a short time. 

Let us suppose that we are on the farm when the harvest 
is ripe. Long lines of reaping machines, some pulled by 
tractors and some by horses and mules, are moving across 
through the ocean of light yellow grain. The din of the 
machinery makes us think of a boiler factory and as we 
come near we find that most of the noise comes from the 
knives which are moving back and forth a few inches above 
the ground, cutting the wheat so that the stalks fall back 
upon the machine. They fall with their heads all the same 
way and are rolled into a bundle or sheaf, which is bound 
with string and thrown off. Behind the machines come 
men who pick up the sheaves and shock them. They are 
left in the shocks until the grain is dry enough to be threshed. 

I have seen threshing in many parts of the world. In 
some of the wheat lands of Europe, Asia, and South Amer- 
ica the grains are pounded out with a club or flail. In other 
places oxen or horses are driven over the wheat as it lies 
on the hard ground of the threshing floor, and the feet of 
the animals tread out the grain. In most parts of our 
country and Canada, this work is done by threshing 
machines run by steam or gasoline engines. One large 
thresher thus does the work of hundreds of oxen or thou- 
sands of flails. It separates the grain from the chaff and 
straw, and the clean wheat flows out through a pipe at 
the side so fast that it keeps two men busy tying and re- 



236 



NORTH AMERICA 



moving the bags into which it pours. But on most large 
wheat farms east of the Rocky Mountains it is poured 
directly into wagons without being bagged, and then it is 
hauled away to the nearest railway station or wheat elevator. 
On the dry lands of the far Northwest, beyond the Rocky 
Mountains, most of the wheat cures on the stalk without 
cutting and shocking. There the work of threshing can 
be done by a combined harvester and thresher called a 
header. A single machine of this kind will cut off the 
heads of wheat and thresh them at the rate of two or three 
thousand bushels of grain in one day. 

As we talk with the farmers, we learn that wheat is of 
many varieties. Winter wheat is sown in the fall and 
harvested in the early summer. Other kinds of wheat are 
sown in the spring and harvested later than the winter 
variety. Spring wheat is sown where the winters are dry 
and cold with little or no snow. The hard durum wheat, 
which is used for macaroni, is produced where the land 
is high and the air comparatively dry. The wheat from 
moist regions is soft and starchy, while that of less humid 
regions is usually hard. 

We have twenty-one states which raise winter wheat, 
and twenty which produce spring wheat, some of the 

states raising both. 
Among the chief 
winter-wheat states 
are Kansas, Illinois, 
Missouri, Ohio, Okla- 
homa, Indiana, Penn- 
sylvania, and Michi- 
gan. Among the best 
of the spring-wheat 
states are Minnesota, 




Wheat-growing regions. 



WHEAT ELEVATORS 237 

North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Washington, and 
Wisconsin. Much of the wheat raised on our Pacific 
coast goes to Asia, and a great deal of that raised east of 
the Rocky Mountains is exported to Europe. 



XXXII. FROM THE WHEAT FARM TO THE 
FLOUR BARREL 

TO-DAY we shall learn how wheat is cared for after 
leaving the fields, and how it is turned into flour. 
This is quite as great a business as raising the wheat. 
At the railway stations of the wheat regions and at all of 
our grain ports, there are huge elevators for storing the 
grain before it is shipped to the markets or ground into 
flour. There are many such granaries at Minneapolis, 
St. Louis, New York, and New Orleans, and especially 
at Chicago and other large cities upon the Great Lakes. 
Minneapolis and Duluth have elevators each of which will 
store several million bushels of grain, and hundreds of train- 
loads of wheat come there in a single year. 

The elevators are usually built near the railroad tracks, 
and, at the sea and river ports, close to the water. The 
wheat is taken from wagons or cars directly into the eleva- 
tors, and when it is to be shipped it flows out from them 
into cars or barges or ships. Each elevator contains many 
huge bins, one of which may be as high as a six-story 
building and will hold thousands of bushels of wheat. The 
grain is moved to the top of the elevator in small buckets 
of tin or zinc fastened to a belt which carries it up and 
empties it into a large box where it is weighed automat- 
ically and then poured into the bins. The wheat is trans- 



2z2> NORTH AMERICA 

ported from the bins to other parts of the elevator or to 
the mills near by on moving belts so that it flows like a 
river into the place where it is needed. It may go on the 
belt even to the cars or ships. Sometimes the grain is 
pumped through pipes instead of being carried on belts. 

There are elevators at Duluth and other ports of Lake 
Superior which handle the grain for the steamers that 
carry it down the Great Lakes to Buffalo. From Buffalo 
it goes by rail, or in barges on the Barge Canal, to New 
York to be shipped to Europe. The wheat of western 
Canada comes to Port Arthur and Fort William on Lake 
Superior and goes down the lakes and out through the 
Welland Canal and the St. Lawrence to Europe. 

Most of our wheat is used in the United States. It 
is carried on boats and barges and in cars to our various 
cities, and during a part of the year long trains of wheat 
cars move over many of our trunk lines of railroad. 

We have left the wheat fields and are back in Minneapolis 
ready to see the wheat turned into flour. We go to the 
milling district on the bank of the river. It is covered by 
enormous buildings of limestone, some of which rise more 
than two hundred feet above, the ground. These are the 
mills. There are huge elevators near by which rise high 
above all the buildings. The elevators are now full of 
wheat, and steady streams of grain are flowing from them 
into the mills at the rate of more than one hundred thou- 
sand bushels per hour. We visit one of the miUs. It 
is of immense size, grinding out so much flour every day 
that the whole would be enough to make a loaf of bread 
for every person in the cities of New York, Chicago, Phil- 
adelphia, Boston, and Cleveland. It grinds one hundred 
and seventy-five thousand bushels of wheat every twenty- 
four hours. 



FLOUR MILLS 



239 




Minneapolis flour mills, and wheat elevator. 

We go first to the top of the mill. Here the grain is 
cleaned by machinery, each kernel being scoured and 
cleaned again and again. On the floors below the kernels 
are then passed between steel rollers by which they are 
crushed. They are broken again and again, more flour 
being removed at each breaking. From time to time the 
flour is sifted through wire netting, which grows finer and 
finer, until finally the net is so fine that every piece the 
size of a postage stamp has more than one hundred holes. 
During this process, the bran and other coarse parts of the 
kernel are taken out, and only the wheat flour is left. 
This flour is put into barrels by machinery, and the barrels 
are rolled into the cars to start on their long trip to our 
homes. The coarser arid darker parts of the kernel have 
great food value, and are left in some brands of flour. 

Leaving the milling district, we take a drive through 
Minneapolis and then go by automobile to St. Paul. The 
centers of the two cities are only about twelve miles apart 
and they have grown so rapidly that they will soon come 
together. They are already practically one commercial 



240 NORTH AMERICA 

and manufacturing center, known as the "Twin Cities of 
the Northwest." MinneapoUs is the larger but St. Paul is 
the capital of Minnesota. St. Paul is an important railway 
and commercial center. It has large packing houses and 
wholesale establishments. Minneapolis has many factories 
besides its flour mills. It operates woolen mills, and saws 
great quantities of timber into lumber of various kinds. 
The growth of these two cities is due largely to their 
situation in a rich country of forests and farms at the head 
of navigation on the Mississippi and near the Great Lakes. 
Goods may be sent from them by water down the Missis- 
sippi, or after a short haul of one hundred and fifty miles on 
the railroad, down the Great Lakes to the vast population to 
be reached from their shores, and also through the New 
York Barge Canal or the St. Lawrence to the ocean ports 
for shipment to Europe. The milling industry and growth 
of Minneapolis are largely due to the water power of the 
Falls of St. Anthony. 

1. To what family does wheat belong? From what land was it 
brought to the United States? Name some of the countries where 
it is grown. 

2. Locate the Red River valley. Describe your visit to a wheat 
farm in that region. Why can tractors be used there? What ad- 
vantages has a tractor over horses? 

3. What is spring wheat? Winter wheat? What are the chief 
spring-wheat states? The chief winter-wheat states? Which states 
send most of their exports to Asia? 

4. Trace a bushel of wheat from the grain drill to the elevator. 
Trace a barrel of flour from Minneapolis to your own home. How 
does it travel and how far does it go? 

5. Follow a barrel of llour from Minneapolis to Hamburg, via 
Duluth, Buffalo, and New York, going all the way by water. Trace a 
bushel of wheat from San Francisco to Liverpool. Through what canal 
does it go? How far does it travel? (See page 496.) Trace a bushel 
from Seattle to Shanghai.' 




Filling barrels with flour by machinery. 



CARP. N. AMER— 15 



241 



242 NORTH AMERICA 

6. When is wheat planted and harvested in Ohio? In North 
Dakota? 

7. Compare wheat with corn. Can you guess why wheat is some- 
times called the lazy man's crop? 

8. Locate Minneapolis and St. Paul. Show why large cities have 
grown up at that point. 



XXXIII. THE IRON MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR 

FROM St. Paul v^e go to Duluth at the head of Lake 
Superior. The distance is one hundred and fifty- 
two miles, and the journey by rail is made within five or 
six hours. It takes us from the head of navigation on the 
Mississippi to the head of navigation on the Great Lakes, 
and we are almost ready to start on our voyage down that 
wonderful waterway. 

But we must first see something of the iron mines and 
lumber regions about Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. 
We shall visit the iron mines first. • 

A great part of our riches comes from iron. We are now 
mining more iron than any other country, and we lead the 
world in the production of things made from iron and 
steel. No other land has such extensive beds of iron ore as 
the United States, and nowhere else have we so much ore as 
right here about Lake Superior. More than three fourths 
of the iron we have taken out of the earth has come from 
this region, and we sometimes mine in one year as much as 
seventy-five million tons. This is more than enough to 
make thirty million tons of steel ; so much that if turned into 
steel rails weighing fifty pounds to the yard it would be 
sufiicient to lay a track three hundred thousand miles long. 
This is more railway track than we have in the whole 



THE IRON MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



243 



United States, and far more than that of all the railways of 
Europe and Asia. 

In addition to our Lake Superior iron, we have iron in 
many other parts of the Union. It is mined in twenty-six 
different states, and there are vast beds of it in Tennessee, 
Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia. For a long time Penn- 
sylvania was our chief source of supply. New York, New" 
Jersey, and Ohio all produce iron, and Texas, Wyoming, 
and Utah have extensive deposits. In fact. North America 
is supposed to have more iron ore than any other part of the 
globe, although iron is found in every continent, and is 
mined in large quantities in many of the countries of 
Europe. 

Iron is the most abundant of all metals, and it has been 
used by man in one way or another for thousands of years. 
In the British Museum is an Egyptian axhead dating from 
1370 B. C. and a piece of iron taken from the great pyramid 
near Cairo which is believed to be about six thousand years 
old. A fragment of a saw forty-four inches long, which was 
in use almost three thousand years ago, was found in some 
ruins on the banks of the Tigris River, and near Delhi in 
India I have seen a famous iron pillar which dates from 
400 B. c. This pillar is twenty-two feet high and weighs 
about six tons. It was made by welding disks of iron 
together. The Greeks used iron, and the Romans made 
both wrought iron and steel. To-day there is hardly a 
man, woman, or child in the world who does not use iron 
every day in some form or other, and we are dependent upon 
iron and steel for the making of nearly all the things that 
we eat, drink, or wear. 

, As iron ore lies in the earth it is in beds, or in veins or 
pockets walled about with rock, and the metal is not pure 
but combined with other elements, as it is in iron rust. 



244 NORTH AMERICA 

4 

It is only by smelting the ore with limestone, that we can 
get the iron out, nearly pure. 

Now smelting requires coal, but there are no good coal 
fields within hundreds of miles of Lake Superior. There- 
fore the iron ore must be brought to the coal, or the coal 
must be brought to the iron. It is found that the iron can 
be taken more cheaply to the coal than the coal to the iron. 
Therefore, most of the ore is carried down through the 
Great Lakes to Chicago, Gary, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, 
and to other ports from which it is sent by rail to the cities 
of the Pittsburgh district. At these ports and cities the 
coal and iron are easily brought together, and hence we 
shall find there large manufacturing industries of iron and 
steel. 

But let us visit some of the mining districts of the 
Lake Superior region. We shall go first to Hibbing in 
the Mesa'bi Range not far west of Lake Superior. We 
are one thousand feet above the surface of the lake, and 
sixteen hundred feet above the level of the ocean. We 
are on the height of land just about halfway between the 
Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean. All about us are 
great mines in which steam shovels are digging the ore 
out of the earth, and loading it upon the cars. Long 
train loads of ore shoot by us on their way down to the 
lake. There they will run out upon a high track and 
drop their loads into huge bins where by opening a steel 
trough in the bottom the ore can be run down into the 
steamers. The machinery of mining, loading, and trans- 
portation is such that the ore does not need to be touched 
by the hand of man between the bed in which it lies and 
the furnaces, almost one thousand miles away. Huge 
unloaders will pick the iron out of the steamers and drop it 
into the cars at the rate of fifteen tons every two minutes. 




Loading iron ore at Duluth. From each bin a long steel chute pours 

the ore into the ship. 

245 



246 NORTH AMERICA 

The cars will be unloaded by machinery, and steam or elec- 
tricity will carry the ore to the top of the furnaces, from 
which the metal will flow out to be made into pig iron and 
then into steel. 

Before going to the mines we ask how men can tell 
where the ore beds lie in the earth. We are shown the 
diamond drills, great machines which cut out holes or 
wells in the rock as big around as a tumbler, and bring 
up cores of the strata through which they go. Some of 
the holes thus made are a thousand feet deep, and the core 
shows the character of the rock all the way down. If 
there is iron one can see just where it lies. By making 
many such holes they could mark out the exact extent and 
form of each ore deposit. This was the first thing to be 
done. After that, the men tell us, they had to clear the 
land, for the whole country was covered with forests, and 
then take away the earth and rock above the ore bed. This 
was done with steam shovels, the mass being carried away on 
cars. After that the ore was ready to be dug out and loaded 
upon the trains which transport it to the ships on Lake 
Superior. 

We can easily see the methods of mining by going to 
one of the great pits from which ore is now being taken. 
We select a mine so near Hibbing that we can easily walk 
to it. This mine is an oval pit of more than three hundred 
acres, out of which more than sixty million tons of ore 
have been mined, and which is still producing several 
million tons every year. 

As we stand on the grass at the edge of the mine we 
are, as it were, on the top seats of an amphitheater, the 
arena or bottom of which is as large as a good-sized farm. 
The sides of the amphitheater slope to the bottom and we 
can see the strata of earth, clay, and rock which the steam 




Iron mine. The big shovel is worked by steam power. 
247 



248 NORTH AMERICA 

shovels had to carry away before the ore bed was reached. 
There are railroads running around the walls of the mine, 
and the tracks are so arranged that the ore is easily hauled 
to the surface. In the pit itself men are now digging 
and preparing for blasting, and steam shovels are lifting 
the iron up and dropping it into the cars. One shovel 
will take up two tons at a bite and will hll a fifty-ton car 
in less than five minutes. 

In another part of this region we visit mines where the 
ore is so far down that it is cheaper to mine it by under- 
ground workings. We go on elevators down the shafts 
which lead to the mines, and walk about through the huge 
chambers out of which the ore has been cut and shipped 
to the surface. The roofs are upheld by huge timbers, and 
some chambers have floors of thick logs. After the ore 
has been all taken out the roof is allowed to drop and the 
floor is made to serve as the roof for another chamber 
which is cut out below. The underground mines are 
lighted by electricity, and the cars aad other machinery 
are moved by the same power. 

Coming back to Hibbing, we take an automobile and 
ride from one mining town to another. We are surprised 
to find excellent roads, here away off in the wilds. The 
schoolhouses are better than those of many of the cities 
of other parts of Minnesota and some of them have ath- 
letic grounds and swimming tanks. Even the villages 
are lighted with electric lights, and some have pubUc 
libraries and parks. The money for such things comes 
largely from the royalties paid by the companies, which 
operate the mines at so much per ton on the ore taken 
out. Many of the counties and towns own the land where 
the ore lies and rent it out at such prices that the rent 
pays most of the taxes. 



THE IRON MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR 249 

Leaving the Mesabi Range, we visit other iron regions 
in Minnesota; and then going to the south shores of Lake 
Superior, we travel through the hills of Wisconsin and 
Michigan, where are other iron ore reserves of wonderful 
extent. 

In the same district we visit the copper mines of Calumet 
and Hecla on the Ke'weenaw Peninsula, which juts out 
into the lake. Here, beginning at the surface and ex- 
tending far down, is a mass of rock which is streaked and 
veined with almost pure copper. There are copper mines 
in northern Michigan which are a half mile or even a 
mile deep. The ore is taken to the mills not far away and 
is there crushed into powder and washed. After this the 
copper is smelted in great furnaces, from which it flows 
out and is molded into copper bars. The bars are 
shipped down the lakes to the factories where they are 
manufactured into wire or the many other things for 
which copper is used. The copper is mixed with zinc in 
the making of brass and it is largely employed in electrical 
machinery of various kinds. 

A story is told of how the copper deposits of Lake Su- 
perior were discovered by a pig which had fallen into a 
hole and was trying to root its way out. In doing so it 
uncovered some nuggets of this wonderful metal. Since 
then more than five billion pounds of copper have been 
taken out of the Lake Superior region, and it is said that 
there is more than half as much left. We shall learn more 
about this important metal when we travel through our 
western highlands, from which most of our copper now 
comes. 

I. Make a list of twenty things that are made of iron or by means 
of it, selecting ten from the room in which you now are. What 
factories in or near your town are connected with the iron industry? 



250 NORTH AMERICA 

2. How long has iron been used by man? Tell something of its 
history. 

3. How do men find where the ore lies in the earth? Compare the 
iron production of the United States with that of other countries. 
(See page 499.) Compare that of the Lake Superior region with the 
rest of the United States. 

4. Suppose all the steel tracks of our railways were taken away. 
How soon could the Lake Superior mines supply enough iron ore to 
make the steel to replace them? 

5. Describe your visit to the mines of the Mesabi range. What is 
open-pit mining? What is underground mining? 

6. Trace a ton of ore from the mines to the smelters. How far 
does it travel from Duluth to Detroit? To Cleveland? To Chicago? 
(See pages 218-219.) 

7. Why is not the Lake Superior ore smelted at the mines? 

8. Where is copper found in the Lake Superior region? Where are 
our chief copper deposits? 



>;«ic 



XXXIV. A TRAMP THROUGH THE WOODS — OUR 
LUMBER INDUSTRY 

PUT on your rough clothing and hobnail shoes and 
get ready for a tramp through the woods. We are 
now in one of the largest lumber regions of the United 
States. We can go out to the camps where the lumbermen 
are felling trees and visit the savmiills where they are 
sawing the logs into lumber. Not many years ago we 
might have traveled east and south from here for hun- 
dreds of miles and seen nothing but pines and other tall 
trees. This is a part of the great forest tract that covered 
the northern and eastern part of our continent when the 
New World was discovered. At that time almost one 
third of what is now the United States was thickly wooded, 



A TRAMP THROUGH THE WOODS 251 

The timber that then stood upon it has been estimated 
by our Forestry Service at more than five thousand bil- 
lion square feet, or enough to make a boardwalk a foot 
wide, an inch thick, and so long that it would reach ten 
times as far as from here to the sun. The total area of 
those woodlands was equal to almost one third of all 
Europe. 

This vast tract was made up of five immense forests. 
In the eastern part of our country, beginning at the ocean 
and running westward, were the northern woods, the cen- 
tral woods, and the southern woods. The northern woods, 
which covered an area six times as great as that of Ohio, 
were the home of the white pine. The southern woods, 
in which we have already traveled, were chiefly cypress 
and yellow pine; they were about equal in area to the 
woods of the north. The central forests covered more 
territory than those of either the North or the South, and 
their timber was largely oaks, beeches, maples, and other 
hardwoods. 

In addition to these woodlands of the east were the 
forests found in the Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific 
Coast. Their areas were not so large, but the trees of the 
Pacific region were of such enormous size that the lumber 
in them almost equaled that of the hardwood central 
forest of our eastern states. They had the redwoods and 
"big trees," the giants of California, the largest trees 
known to man, and also the western yellow pine and the 
Douglas fir. It is from the latter trees that a large part of 
our lumber to-day comes. 

Long after the lands east of the Mississippi were settled 
we had so many trees that no one thought of saving them. 
The pioneers cut them down as fact as they could, piled 
them up where they fell, and burned them to get the land 



252 NORTH AMERICA 

clear for farms. Sometimes they burned the logs for the 
potash in the ashes. Vast tracts were wasted also by 
forest fires, and the lumbering was done in such a way 
that much of the best wood was lost. This destruction 
of our forests continued for years, and more than half of 
all our timber has now disappeared. 

The work of felling the trees is still going on wastefuUy. 
In the woodlands of the South lumbermen are moving 
from one forest to another in little houses so made that 
they can be carried upon the railroad and lifted on and 
off the cars at will. Along the Great Lakes, a great part of 
the forests has been cut away, and along the Pacific Coast 
woods lumbermen are felling eight or ten billion feet of 
timber per annum. In 1918 we had about fifteen thousand 
sawmills, some of v/hich worked day and night. The 
annual cut at that time was almost thirty-two billion feet 
of lumber, board measure. If it should keep on the same 
way within a comparatively few years we should have no 
lumber left. 

We wonder what we shall do for wood in the future. 
The thought makes us tremble; for how in the world 
could we get on without wood? It is wood that forms 
most of our houses, and almost all of our furniture. It 
bridges our streams, timbers our mines, and holds in place 
the steel rails over which we fly on the cars. We soar 
through the skies in airplanes with wooden propellers 
and we move over the ocean in steamers in which much 
wood is used. In one year we employ more than one billion 
feet of timber for telegraph poles and fence posts and rails. 
We use one hundred and sixty-five million cubic feet a 
year for timbering mines, and an enormous amount for 
barrels. We grind up millions of cords of soft wood every 
year to make paper, and hundreds of acres of forests are 



OUR LUMBER INDUSTRY 253 

annually burned up as matches. There is a factory in 
Maine that turns out a half billion toothpicks every twelve 
months, and there are other establishments that make 
spools and clothespins by the hundreds of milHons. In- 
deed there are so many uses of wood we cannot mention 
them all. 

To replace the woods which have already been cut, to 
give us lumber for the future, and to preserve the forests 
as a cover for our water supply, our government is now 
advising the people everywhere to plant trees. It has also 
set aside several hundred million acres in various parts of 
our country as national forests, where the trees will be 
cared for, and only those which have reached their full 
growth will be cut. In addition thirty-three of our states 
are reserving large tracts of public forest, and in many 
places trees are being planted. The national and state 
forests comprise about one fourth of the woodland we 
now have. 

Lumbering in the Great Lakes region is done best when 
there is snow on the ground. Then the logs can be hauled 
on sledges down to the streams and piled up on the 
banks or on the ice. They are often rolled out upon the 
ice so that for a long distance a stream may be covered 
with them. The ice is sometimes several feet thick, and 
it does not break under the great weight. When the spring 
thaws come the streams rise, and the freshets carry the 
logs down to the lakes or to rivers upon which they can 
be floated to the mills. 

Lumbering usually begins in the fall. At that time the 
men go into the woods, and build log cabins for their winter 
homes, filling the cracks between the logs with mud and 
sod. They have fires to keep themselves warm. Often 
fifty men will live in one cabin, sleeping in bunks which 




254 



OUR LUMBER INDUSTRY 255 

run in tiers around the walls. They eat at a common 
table, using tin plates and other dishes which will not 
easily break. They take with them enough provisions to 
last all winter, and their pork and canned meats and 
hot breads are often varied by wild turkey roasts, 
venison stews, or bear steaks from game shot upon the 
ground. 

In felling the forest everything is done according to 
system. The under chopper first goes through the forest 
and marks those trees which will make the best lumber, 
and after him come the axemen and sawyers. The sawyers 
make a cut about the trunk near the earth with a long saw, 
which they pull back and forth. Then the men chop above 
and beyond the cut until the giant of the forest drops 
with a crash to the ground. After this the limbs must be 
trimmed off and the trunk sawed into logs. 

In getting the logs to the stream the snow roads are 
sprinkled with water which Jack Frost turns to ice. Such 
roads are so slippery that the horses, sharp shod by the 
camp blacksmith, can haul over them many times as 
much as they could on a common road with a wagon. 
A load of logs big enough to fill an ordinary bed- 
room from the floor to the ceiling is thus carried down 
to the water. 

In the forests of the South, the logs are slung to high 
wheeled trucks (picture, page 256); or they may be hauled 
to a railroad by means of a steam engine to which is 
fastened a rope as thick as a broom handle and a mile or 
more long. This is wrapped about the log as it lies in 
the forest. Then the engine is started and it winds up 
the rope thus dragging the log to the cars. In the Pacific 
Coast forests, which we shall visit later on in our travels, 
a single log often makes a carload. 



256 



NORTH AMERICA 





'fM4 




Hauling a big log to mill in the South. 



It is interesting to follow the logs down the streams to 
the sawmills. A gang of men goes along with each drive 
to keep the logs moving and prevent them from catching 
on the banks and causing a jam. The men walk on the 
logs from one to another, holding them apart and keeping 
them straight. The men have sharp nails in the soles of 
their boots to give them a sure footing, and they use long 
poles ending in hooks and spikes to push and pull the logs 
this way and that. When a jam occurs, the logs act as 
if they were crazy. They climb one on top of another; some 
dive under the jam and some stand on end against it. After 



OUR LUMBER INDUSTRY 



257 



a while they become so wedged into one mass that it is 
hard to see how they can be taken apart. However, the 
logger goes with his pikes to the front of the jam and inch 




A log jam. The lumbermen pry the logs apart with long poles. 



by inch pulls out the logs forming its keystone, and then 
the whole jam comes tumbling down the river. 

When the logs get to the sawmills they are handled by 
machinery. They seem to crawl like live things out of the 
water and up the gangways, and on to the saws. Some of 
the mills have gang saws, each of which consists of a number 
of saws that move up and down through the log, cutting 
the whole into boards at once. Others use the band saw, 
a wide belt of steel with teeth on one edge. This moves 
like a band of leather upon two great wheels, one of which 
is high over the other. As the steel belt flies round, the 
teeth on its front edge saw through the log, making boards 
even faster than the gang saws. 



CARP. N. AMER. 



258 NORTH AMERICA 

1. When America was discovered what part of our country was 
covered with woods? Where was the home of the white pine? Of 
the yellow pine and the cypress? Of most of the hardwoods? What 
kind of trees grow in the far west? 

2. About how much lumber do we cut in one year? Estimating 
the present stand of timber at twenty-five hundred billion feet, how 
long will our lumber last at this rate? 

3. Look about the school room and point out the places where 
wood is used. Mention other uses. Imagine how men could get 
along in a world without wood. What might take its place? 

4. Of what is this book made? Of what are newspapers made? 

5. Why is lumbering about the Great Lakes carried on in the 
winter? 

6. Visit a lumber camp and describe the work you see there. 
Visit a lumber mill and describe it. 



>;•>€ 



XXXV. THE GREAT LAKES — OUR MOST 
IMPORTANT WATERWAY 

WE have returned to Duluth and are now ready to 
start on our voyage dov^n the Great Lakes. We are 
at the chief United States terminal of the most v^onderful 
inland water route upon earth. The Great Lakes, includ- 
ing the St. Lawrence River, form a navigable waterway 
more than two thirds as long as from New York to Liver- 
pool. The shore line of the lakes gives access to eight of 
our greatest states, whose population is more than one 
third of that of the Union and whose agricultural and 
mineral products are of enormous importance. The lakes 
connect us also with an almost equal area in Canada, with 
its immense resources in grain, timber, and minerals of 
many kinds. 

The upper lakes are frozen during the winter, and for 



THE GREAT LAKES 259 

the five months from November to April are almost as 
deserted as the icy seas about the North Pole. It is only 
in the seven warmer months that ships can navigate them, 
but in that time more freight is carried upon them than is 
brought into any port of the world in one year. Through- 
out the summer, day and night, there moves over this 
waterway an almost endless fleet of steel steamships, 
barges, whalebacks, and magnificent passenger vessels, 
carrying millions of tons of freight and thousands of people 
to and fro. Within one season the ore fleet carries down 
the lakes more than sixty million tons of ore from the 
iron mines about Lake Superior, and the wheat fleet trans- 
ports more than a quarter of a billion bushels. Many of 
these vessels bring back coal to supply the northwestern 
part of our country, carrying in one season enough to fill 
a train of fifty- ton cars reaching from Boston to San 
Francisco. 

All this is done at low cost. Before the World War the 
freight rates in the lakes were lower than now. At that 
time a bushel of wheat was taken from Duluth to Buffalo, 
a distance of one thousand miles, for one cent and a half, 
and two tons of iron ore from the mines of Lake Superior 
to the ports of Lake Erie for little more than one dollar. 
The rates are higher now, but they are far lower than 
those of the railway. 

But before we go farther let us examine the basin in 
which these vast fresh-water seas lie. It is situated on 
the crown of the eastern part of our continent, so that on 
the north just over the rim the ground slopes toward 
Hudson Bay, and on the south toward the Gulf of Mexico. 
The rim of parts of the basin on the south is so low that 
canals have been cut from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, and 
from the southern end of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi 



26o NORTH AMERICA 

River, and goods might be carried from the lakes to the 
Gulf of Mexico in that way. From Lake Erie at Buffalo, 
the New York Barge Canal transports freight to the Hud- 
son River, upon which it goes to the port of New York. 
The northern rim of the basin also is low, and a traveler 
can paddle his way up the streams flowing from the north 
into Lake Superior, and, by carrying his canoe a short 
distance, can drop it into other streams and float down to 
Hudson Bay. 

An important feature of the Great Lakes basin is that 
it tilts gently toward the east from where we are now 
clear out to the ocean. The descent is all together only six 
hundred feet in about two thousand miles, and most of 



Z^-—-"-^ 


-— - - _, 


_ 


|Ci_^ 




liUCBtC 






U.SUPCf^lCR 


-.. >- t], --- 




^^r 


1 



Diagram showing the Lake Terraces 

this is made in three steps. At the top is Lake Superior, 
the surface of which is about fifty feet higher above the 
sea then the top of the Washington Monument. The 
first step or drop is about twenty feet, and is made where 
Lake Superior pours into Lake Huron. Below this point 
we find Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Erie on nearly the same 
level. The second great step or drop is at the rapids and 
falls of Niagara River, where the waters pour down to the 
level of Lake Ontario. From there they flow on through 
the valley of the St. Lawrence out to the sea, with a third 
step or drop at the rapids in that river. 



THE GREAT LAKES 261 

But how do the steamers with their loads of freight 
dimb up and down these steps? 

They cannot go from Ontario up the swift Niagara 
River and mount the falls; nor can they make their way up 
through the rocky rapids of the St. Marys River, over 
which the waters of Lake Superior foam as they rush on 
toward Lake Huron. No; that is impossible. The ships 
must be lifted or let down from one level to another by 
means of lock canals. Such canals have been built between 
Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and around St. Marys Falls 
between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. There are other 
canals with locks around the rapids of the St. Lawrence. 
The surface of the Great Lakes is level and the steamers 
move back and forth as though on the ocean. 

We are now^ ready to begin our trip down the lakes. 
The most wonderful feature of our voyage will be passing 
through the locks at St. Marys. Our steamer is a hollow 
shell of steel almost six hundred feet long and sixty feet wide. 
Its hold is twenty feet deep and is divided into hatches 
which contain twelve thousand tons of iron ore. The 
engines are at the stern and they move the ship onward 
by a screw propeller, which whirls around at the rate of 
ninety revolutions a minute. 

The vessel makes the round trip from the head of Lake 
Superior to the ports of Lake Erie and return, a distance 
of almost two thousand miles, in about one week; and it 
goes onward so steadily that we hardly know we are steam- 
ing. We leave Duluth in the morning and are soon out of 
sight of land. We are on Lake Superior, the largest fresh- 
water lake of the world, its only rival in size being Lake 
Victoria in Central Africa. 

It. is four hundred and twenty miles from Duluth to 
the ''Soo," where we are to make our twenty-foot jump 




262 



THE SOO CANAL 263 

down to Lake Huron. We enter the St. Marys Canal 
and come to the locks. There are two on the American 
side and one on the Canadian side. The greatest of all is 
the Davis Lock, belonging to us. It is thirteen hundred 
and fifty feet long, eighty feet broad, and more than twenty- 
four feet in depth. It will hold two huge steamers like ours. 
As we approach it, the great steel water-tight gates facing 
us open, and when we have entered they again come to- 
gether. The time of opening and closing is less than four 
minutes. We are now in a huge vat of water, with the deck 
of our steamer far above the walls on each side. We can 
look over the gates at the front and see the waters of the 
St. Marys River below us. 

But lo! We are sinking. The holes in the bottom of 
the lock have been opened and the steamer drops down, 
down, as the water flows out, until at last it is on the level 
of the river below. Now the gates in front of us move; they 
are soon wide open and we steam on into the St. Marys, 
which leads to Lake Huron. The lock is operated by elec- 
tricity and it has lowered our huge steamer down this step 
in less than a quarter of a hour. 

Here at the St. Marys Canal is a good place to learn 
the character of the traffic that passes up and down this 
great waterway. A record is kept of the freight, and we 
find that its volume is greater than that of any other canal 
of the world. It is many times that of the Panama Canal 
or the Suez Canal, and still it does not include the cargoes 
that go out of Lake Huron through the Strait of Mackinac 
(mak'i-no) into Lake Michigan, which form a large part 
of the traffic of the Great Lakes. In 1916 there passed 
through these locks at the "Soo" fifteen milHon tons of 
coal, five hundred and twenty million pounds of copper, 
and sixty-three million tons of iron ore. There were raised 



264 NORTH AMERICA 

or lowered more than two hundred thousand tons of manu- 
factured iron, seven hundred thousand barrels of salt, 
ten million barrels of flour, and two hundred and twenty- 
seven million bushels of wheat. In the same time the ships 
going through the canal carried also more than fifty-five 
thousand passengers and more than a million and a half 
tons of merchandise. 

Leaving the ''Soo," we traverse Lake Huron and enter 
the St. Clair River, which, with Lake St. Clair and the 
Detroit River, forms the down spout from Lake Huron 
to Lake Erie. There is a fall of only eight feet in the whole 
length of these rivers, and the current is so slight that we 
do not notice it. We stop a day or so in the river at Detroit 
and then move on through the Detroit River and across 
Lake Erie to Cleveland, where we discharge our cargo of 
ore to the steel mills at that point. A night's ride on 
another steamer takes us to Buffalo, whence the New 
York Barge Canal leads down to the Hudson River, giving 
a waterway the whole distance from Duluth to the city of 
New York. 

1. Locate the Great Lakes and describe them. Which is the 
largest? The smallest? 

2. Make a sketch map of the Great Lakes, showing the routes of 
the ships. 

3. Name the states which border the lakes. What great country 
Hes at the north? What part of the lakes does it own? Which lake 
belongs wholly to the United States? 

4. What is the open season on the Great Lakes? Describe your 
trip through the locks of the St. Marys Canal. Why are locks 
needed? Tell how they are operated. What is the drop from Lake 
Superior to the Atlantic? To Lake Huron? From Lake Erie to Lake 
Ontario? 

5. Name some items of traffic on the Great Lakes. Which weighs 
the most? Describe our steamer, and trace the route from Duluth 
to Buffalo. 




Detroit water front on Detroit River; boats from many Lake ports. 

265 



266 NORTH AMERICA 

XXXVI. OUR CITIES ON THE LAKES 

SOME of the largest cities of the United States are 
situated on the Great Lakes. Chicago is surpassed 
in size only by New York, and Detroit ranks next to 
Philadelphia, being our fourth largest city. Cleveland 
comes next, and still farther eastward, at the foot of Lake 
Erie, is Buffalo, an important grain, steel, and coal center 
at the place where the traffic of the New York Barge Canal 
and that of the Great Lakes come together. Other im- 
portant manufacturing lake cities are Toledo (to-le'do), 
within an hour's ride of Detroit; Milwaukee, within a 
short distance by steam of Chicago; and Duluth, at the 
head of Lake Superior. All of these cities have grown 
because of the cheap transportation on the lakes, and 
because of certain special advantages which each has 
from the country surrounding it. 

On our way down the lakes we make our first long stop 
at Detroit. As we enter the river we are one of a great 
fleet of steamers, which during the open lake season 
moves steadily through here day and night. There are 
ships carrying copper and iron ore and lumber going south 
and others loaded with coal and merchandise on their way 
north. The ships are so many that one passes the city of 
Detroit every three minutes during the season, and their 
freight in one season of seven months is so great that it 
more than equals that of the Suez Canal in one year. 

Detroit has trunk lines of railway reaching every part of 
the United States, and by a tunnel under the river it has 
railway connection with Canada. It has the best facilities 
both by water and by rail for getting cheap coal, wood, 
iron, and other raw materials, and therefore has become 
a great manufacturing center. 



OUR CITIES ON THE LAKES 267 

It is partly on this account that Detroit is the principal 
seat of our motor car industry. Riding through the city, 
one sees many great factories making the cars and trucks 
which are shipped from here, to all parts of the world. 
More than ninety thousand men are employed in making 
automobiles and things connected with them, and the 
output of such vehicles in one year has numbered more 
than one million. 

Some of the motor car plants cover an area equal to 
that of a good-sized farm, and in one of the factories we 
walk through a room which covers more than sixteen 
acres. It is so filled with machinery that it looks like a 
great forest of fast-moving belts and wheels. There are 
fifty miles of leather belting in the room, and its eight 
thousand machines require twenty-five thousand gallons 
of lubricating oil every twenty-four hours. As we stand 
at one end of it we cannot see the walls at the other, and 
the belts are so many that they almost hide the ceiling. 
The noise is deafening. There is the shrill cutting of steel 
upon steel, the buzzing of grinding wheels like the swarm- 
ing of locusts, and the pounding of hammers. Here and 
there are to be seen men in blue overalls directing the 
machines or feeding the steel into them. 

The works of such a factory are so arranged that there is 
no loss of motion. The raw materials in the shape of rough 
forgings and castings start in at one end of the building, 
and, after passing through many machines, come out at 
the other in cars and trucks ready to start out on their 
work of transporting men and goods over the country. 
Detroit has one plant which takes the ore of Lake Su- 
perior, turns it into steel, and then passes the steel 
on through such machines and such skilled handling that 
when it comes out it is a gasoline farm tractor ready to 



268 



NORTH AMERICA 



take the place of horses in plowing or harrowing or 
harvesting. 

Detroit is the best place in our country to learn about 
automobiles. The United States has so many motor cars 
that there is now one to every three or four families. The 
number is over seven millions, and we have so many trucks 




Scene in Cadillac Square, Detroit. This is the chief automobile 
center of the country. 



that they do a great part of our hauling. There is good 
reason for calling this the motor car age. 

During our stay we take automobiles and explore De- 
troit, riding for miles through Woodward and Jefiferson 
avenues under the shade of their magnificent maples and 
elms. The streets are so many that if joined together 
they would reach from here almost all the way to New 



OUR CITIES ON THE LAKES 269 

York, or more than halfway to New Orleans, or more than 
one fifth of the distance to San Francisco. 

We take the ferry and cross over the river to Windsor in 
Canada to see how it feels to have one's feet on foreign soil; 
and upon our return we take automobiles for Toledo. 
Toledo is on the Maumee' River about nine miles from 
Lake Erie. It has thirty miles of frontage on the river, and 
more than twenty miles of docks. It handles immense 
quantities of grain and iron ore which come down the 
lakes, and is a large manufacturing center, making au- 
tomobiles, plate glass, and many other things. It has one 
automobile plant employing fifteen thousand persons, 
and a glass factory which in one year makes more than 
one billion bottles. 

From Toledo we motor over excellent roads to Cleve- 
land, stopping on the way at Fremont, which was the home 
of President Hayes. Cleveland is celebrated for its manu- 
factures of oil, iron, and steel. It makes ships for the lake 
trade, and all kinds of machinery. It is situated on Lake 
Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga (kl-a-ho'ga) River, 
at a place where the iron ore of Lake Superior and the soft 
coal of Ohio and Pennsylvania can be cheaply brought 
together. It also is on some of the chief trunk lines be- 
tween New York and Chicago, and it can be reached over 
night by train from almost any part of our country lying 
between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. 

We stroll from our hotel down to the wharves and watch 
the unloading of iron ore. This work is done by great 
machines. A man by pressing a button causes what we 
might call a steel giant to reach with his arm down into 
the hold of the ship and pick up in his fist as much ore as 
thirty horses could haul on a wagon. The giant's hand, 
directed by the man above, moves around through the 




270 



OUR CITIES ON THE LAKES 271 

hold and scrapes together the ore, and then, as the man 
pulls a lever, raises and drops it into the cars in which 
it goes to the furnaces. This is only figuratively speaking. 
The hand is in fact a grab bucket whose jaws are open 
when it drops down on the ore, and are closed at the will 
of the man who works the machinery. The machine 
moves so fast that it costs only a few cents a ton to unload 
a great steamer, a single giant doing the work of hundreds 
of men. 

Going to other docks not far away, we see how coal is 
loaded. The cars are Hfted by machinery above the deck 
of the steamer to the height of a five-story house, and the 
coal is dumped into a chute which carries it into the hold. 
At another place we watch men loading coal with grab 
buckets much like those used for unloading the ore. Each 
bucket has two great jaws which will swallow twelve tons 
at one bite. 

Cleveland is one of our most beautiful cities. It has 
fifty acres of lakes and ponds in its parks, and we are able 
to hire bathing suits and go swimming. We stop awhile 
with the children in their many playgrounds and watch a 
game of baseball on one of the diamonds. Later we photo- 
graph the bronze statue of Captain Oliver H. Perry, in 
a public square not far from the lake. It represents Cap- 
tain Perry when he commanded our fleet and captured 
the British squadron on Lake Erie in our War of 181 2. 
Perry was only twenty-seven years old at that time. The 
British expected an easy conquest, but Perry was victori- 
ous, and in sending the news of his triumph to General 
William Henry Harrison, he used these famous words : 

" We have met the enemy, and they are ours. " 

After strolling along Euclid Avenue we go to the ceme- 
tery near the lake to see the marble monument over the 



272 



NORTH AMERICA 



grave of President Garfield, who was bom on a farm not 
far away. As a boy he worked driving mules on a tow- 
path of the Ohio Canal. 

A night's ride on the steamer brings us from Cleveland 
to Buffalo. The city is situated at the head of the Niagara 
River and about twenty miles above Niagara Falls. 

It is one of the chief gateways between the sea and the 
vast regions of the upper lakes. Not far from it is the 
head of the Welland Canal, which, passing through Canada, 
connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The city is the 




The New York Barge Canal at Buffalo. The canal took 15 years to 
build and cost over $180,000,000. 



OUR CITIES ON THE LAKES 273 

western terminus of the New York Barge Canal which joins 
the Great Lakes with New York by way of the Hudson 
River. 

Buffalo is famous also for its excellent railway facilities, 
and it is on some of the chief automobile and motor car 
routes from the East to the West. Owing to the cheap 
water rate at which grain is brought from Duluth, Buffalo 
has many flour mills, and its cheap freights for iron and 
coal have aided in building up a great iron and steel manu- 
facturing industry. In addition the cheap electric power 
generated at Niagara Falls comes over wires to the city, 
running its street cars and many of its factories. 

During our stay in Buffalo we visit the mills, and then 
go out to a great plant where hundreds of workmen are 
turning out flying machines of various kinds. We are 
taken by aviators out to the aviation field and each of us 
is given an airplane ride through the skies. The pilots 
put their machines through all sorts of motions. They 
make them loop the loop, turn somersaults, and take 
nose dives this way and that. It is worse than riding on 
a huge roller coaster, and we are glad when we glide down 
to the ground. 

From Buffalo we motor eastward to Rochester, about 
seventy miles away. This city is connected with the New 
York Barge Canal, and is noted as a manufacturing center. 
During our stay we visit several factories to see how cam- 
eras and photographic supplies are made, and see men 
making also field glasses, opera glasses, and spectacles. On 
our way back to Buffalo, we pass many orchards, and 
learn that this region south of Lake Ontario is one of the 
chief fruit-growing centers of our country, where millions 
of bushels of apples, peaches, and pears are raised every 
year. 

CARP. N. AMER. — 17 



274 NORTH AMERICA 

1. Name the five largest cities on the Great Lakes. Locate each 
and mention some of the things for which it is noted. 

2. Give some reasons why Detroit is the center of our automobile 
industry. Visit a motor car factory and tell what you see. 

3. Find out all you can about automobiles, motor trucks, and 
tractors and tell why they are needed. Of what are they made? 
Where are some of the more important materials produced? The 
iron? The rubber? 

4. How is Detroit connected with Canada? 

5. Why has Cleveland become a great manufacturing center? 
Find out from your history all you can about the War of 181 2 and 
the battle of Lake Erie. What young American was the victor in 
that battle? When was Garfield President of the United States? 
Tell the story of his death. 

6. Mention some of the advantages Buffalo has for manufacture 
and trade. What force operates the street cars? 

7. Have you ever seen an airplane? Describe it and show how 
it works. 

XXXVII. AT NIAGARA FALLS 

WHEN we were high up in the air in our flying ma- 
chines we could see bits of Lake Erie and Lake On- 
tario with the Niagara River flowing between. Niagara 
FaUs is more than halfway down the river. It is only 
twenty miles from where we are now, and the electric 
trolley from Buffalo will take us there in a very short time. 
The Niagara is a wonderful river. Only thirty -three 
miles long and less than a mile wide during most of its 
course, it is the downspout of all the Great Lakes excepting 
Ontario. Its waters have their source in Lake Superior, 
and we have seen how they pour out of that great basin 
into Lake Huron, uniting there with those of Lake Mich- 
igan and then sweeping on through the Detroit River into 
Lake Erie. 



AT NIAGARA F./VLLS 275 

The Niagara River begins at the eastern end of Lake 
Erie and flows for about twenty-two miles before it takes 
its great jump at the falls. Where the waters flow from 
Lake Erie into the river the stream is as quiet as a mill 
pond, and the fall is not more than a foot to the mile. 
Going on, the waters soon divide and pass around Grand 
Island, at the lower end of which the river is two miles 
wide. After that the channel narrows and the rapids be- 
gin. One sees them boiling as they sweep over the rocks. 
They foam as they dash about Goat Island, on the edge 
of the falls, and then take their one hundred and sixty 
foot leap downward into the great abyss below. 

For the next seven miles the river flows through a gorge 
about a quarter of a mile wide and two hundred to four 
hundred feet deep. In most of its course through this 
narrow channel its flow is about thirty miles an hour, or 
that of an express train on a railway. It gives out a mighty 
roar and its waters are churned about into whirlpools. 
They continue to seethe and foam until they pass Lewiston, 
at the end of the gorge, when they abruptly grow quiet 
and flow peacefully on into Lake Ontario. 

When the falls first came into existence, the water fell 
over the cliff at Lewiston, and in the course of thousands 
of years the falls have worn their way upstream seven 
mfles to their present position. The whole gorge has been 
chiseled out of the solid rock by the river. The falls are 
still slowly retreating, and in time wiH reach Lake Erie. 

We hear the noise of the fafls long before we reach them 
and get our first view at Goat Island. The American 
Falls on the right are as high but not so wide as the Horse- 
shoe Fafls which in the shape of a great crescent extend 
to the shores of Canada on our left. 

What a dense spray rises from the water! How the 



AT NIAGARA F.\LLS 277 

waters thunder as they dash over the rocks! They bubble 
and seethe and foam in angry motion in their bed far be- 
low us. Now the sun comes out from behind a cloud. It 
darts its rays into the mist, and paints rainbows there. The 
rainbows change as we look, and new rainbows appear as 
the water spurts upward in a diamond spray. 

We tarry awhile on the bridge above the falls, and a 
little later go to the Cave of the Winds. This cave is right 
under the falls, and we must have a costume and a guide 
before we can undertake the journey. We can get both 
for a dollar. We put on rubber coats and caps, and rude 
pantaloons. Our feet are shod with felt slippers, in order 
that we may not slip, for the descent is dangerous. Our 
guides take us down a wooden staircase along the rocks, 
until at last we are right behind the curtain of falhng water 
and as we go into the cave the noise almost deafens us. 
While we stand there and look out, the sun peeps in through 
the spray, and we have a curtain of rainbows. 

Another thrilHng experience is our ride below the falls 
in the Maid of the Mist. This little steamboat has power- 
ful machinery, which carries it over the boiling surface of 
the waters from one side of the river to the other. 

We visit also the whirlpool and the rapids above it; 
and then take a walk over the steel bridge which here 
connects Canada with the United States. From it we get 
another fine view of the falls. 

This bridge crosses the raging Niagara River. It is an 
arch of steel, one of the largest of its kind in the world. 
It carries, on top, two tracks for railroads, and below are 
wagon ways, sidewalks, and trolley-car tracks. 

The first suspension bridge was put across this gorge 
more than three quarters of a century ago, and it is inter- 
esting to know that boys aided in its construction. The 



278 NORTH AMERICA 

civil engineer who made the plans wished to get a line 
from one bank to the other; so he offered a reward of five 
dollars to any one who could throw a string across the 
chasm. The next windy day, scores of boys with kites 
in their hands were on the American bank, and before 
night a lucky youth had landed his kite on the Canadian 
side. 

To the kite string a strong cord was fastened, and this 
was pulled from one side to the other. Next, by means of 
the cord, a rope was drawn over, and a cable made of wires 
about as thick as a man 's thumb was tied to it. The cable 
was then fastened, and an iron basket with pulley attached 
was hung on the cable, so that the workmen in the basket 
could be drawn from one bank to the other. 

Soon after this, huge stone towers were built, heavy 
cables were carried across from one bank to the other, 
and little by little the bridge was constructed. The first 
railroad suspension bridge, built a few years later, has 
now been replaced by the magnificent steel arch upon 
which we cross to-day. 



>>•;< 



XXXVIII. NIAGARA IN HARNESS 

GOING back to the falls, we sit down above them 
and watch the mighty cataract as the electrical en- 
gineers tell us how it is being harnessed to work for man. 
The Niagara River is the greatest water power known. 
The water pours out of Lake Erie at the rate of two hundred 
and eighty thousand cubic feet every second and it drops 
down over the falls at the rate of millions of tons every 
hour. The drop from the foot of Lake Erie to the foot 



NIAGARA IN HARNESS 279 

of the falls is about two hundred and twenty feet. The 
force is so great that some of the engineers have estimated 
that it might develop seven miUion horsepower. That 
amount is equal to a large part of all the coal that we take 
out of our mines and enough to run thousands of factories 
and light and heat many cities and towns. 

So far only a small part of this power has been allowed to 
be used, and most of that part belongs to the Canadians. 
The amount has been fixed by a treaty between Canada 
and the United States, whereby Canada is allowed to take 
thirty-six thousand cubic feet of the water a second while 
we can use only twenty thousand cubic feet a second. 

But how can this be? It is because the Great Lakes are 
supposed to belong equally to both countries, so when the 
force at Niagara came to be divided, Canada insisted 
that to her share of one half should be added an amount 
equal to what the United States is taking out of Lake 
Michigan in the canal we have made to join that lake 
with the IlHnois River, which flows into the Mississippi 
River and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Even at this we are 
using less than our share, as we do not wish to take away 
from the beauty of the falls by lessening the volume of 
water that passes over them, our total consumption being 
only about sixteen thousand cubic feet per second. 

As our country grows and we need more light, fuel, and 
power, this question as to the use of the falls will become 
more and more important. The total power now going to 
waste every year equals many million tons of coal. The 
black coal once burned cannot be replaced, but this white 
coal, as water power has been named, comes on just the 
same year after year. Therefore, some think we ought 
to get more power from Niagara, and save our coal for the 
future. 



NIAGARA IN HARNESS 281 

And now let us see what Niagara in harness is doing. 
The amount so far employed by both countries is less than 
a half miUion horsepower, but this serves to run many 
great factories at Niagara and to light and give power to 
cities and towns many miles from the falls. By means of 
the cheap electricity so generated, one factory at Niagara 
makes a grinding material called carborundum, which 
takes the place of grindstones, emery, and diamond dust. 
The material might be called artificial diamonds, for it is 
composed of countless little crystals, so hard and so sharp 
that they can grind almost any material. They are used 
to grind the hardest of steel, and are so important that it 
is said we could not make automobiles, airplanes, and 
many of our steel tools without them. This product is 
made of sand and coke melted together by electric heat. 

Artificial graphite, used in smelting and refining and 
as a lubricant, is another important substance made at 
Niagara, as is also the carbide which gives us acetylene. 
Many of us have seen acetylene gas lights, and some may 
have seen the acetylene flame made of the gas combined 
with oxygen. It is so hot it will melt the hardest of steel 
almost as soon as it touches it. 

The very light and strong metal, aluminum, used in 
cooking utensils and in building airplanes, is extracted 
from the ore by the electricity generated at Niagara. 
Chlorine for bleaching paper and clothes is also made, as 
well as chemicals and drugs, and many alloys or combina- 
tions of iron and other metals, all requiring high electric 
heat which is cheaply created by the power at the falls.. 

Leaving the falls, we walk up the river to look at the 
power plants in which the water is harnessed. They re- 
mind us of the works we saw on the Mississippi at the 
Keokuk Dam. The water is taken from the Niagara 



282 NORTH AMERICA 

River in canals and dropped down through penstocks or 
immense steel tubes upon turbine wheels in such a way 
that it drives them around, and they move the dynamo 
overhead. Each penstock is as tall as a building of six- 
teen stories, and its diameter is such that if it could be 
laid on the ground a horse could trot through it without 
dropping his ears. The dynamos look like giant mush- 
rooms of black steel and they are turning so fast we cannot 
see them move. Their speed is almost two miles a minute, 
so fast that each is generating an electric force of five 
thousand horsepower. It makes us think of five thou- 
sand horses galloping at a speed faster than has ever been 
made on any race track. 

Much of the power generated here is taken by the City 
of Buffalo to run its electric railways and for other pur- 
poses. Some is used by the New York State Barge Canal. 
The electricity is carried by thick cables to the places 
where it is used. 

Great factories have sprung up also on the Canadian 
side of the river, manufacturing products similar to those 
we have just seen. The hydroelectric works there can 
create almost a half million horsepower. 

1. Locate the Niagara River. How long is it? Where do its 
waters come from? 

2. Make an imaginary trip to the falls and describe what you see. 

3. What part had a boy's kite in building the first bridge at Niagara? 

4. Give some idea of the power of the falls. What part of the 
force now used belongs to Canada? Why has Canada the right to 
more than the United States has? What is a treaty and why do 
governments make treaties? 

5. Visit one of the power plants and show how the waters are 
harnessed. 

6. Name some of the products made at Niagara and mention some 
of the uses of each. Why are they made at the falls? 



IN THE COAL REGIONS 283 

XXXIX. IN THE COAL REGIONS 

AFTER returning to Buffalo we have come by train 
L to Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the basin of the Sus- 
quehanna River. The ride takes all day, and when we 
leave the cars we are in the heart of the anthracite region. 

Coal is of several varieties. Bituminous or soft coal is 
black and easily broken, and when burned it gives off a 
dense smoke and leaves a great deal of ash. It is the 
coal from which we get most of our steam, and "which 
we use for manufacturing, smelting, and the making of 
coke. Anthracite is a hard coal of a high grade, which 
is used more for heating. It makes a very hot fire; it 
burns almost without smoke and with a moderate amount 
of ash. It is found in large quantities in northeastern 
Pennsylvania, and in the province of Shansi in China. 
Smaller quantities exist in England, France, and Bel- 
gium. Bituminous coal is among the mineral resources of 
every continent, and of many countries. Anthracite is 
comparatively rare. 

But first let us learn a bit more about this dirty black 
stuff upon which we rely so much for our heat, light, and 
power. Take up a chunk of coal and ask it to tell you its 
story. It replies that its life began ages ago, and that it 
first lived as trees, mosses, and other vegetable growth. 
It tells how it was covered with sediment and put under 
such pressure that it finally hardened and became coal. 
It tells us that coal is good according to the amount of 
carbon in it, and that anthracite has the most carbon of 
all. Bituminous has less, and lignite, a low-grade brown 
coal, has so little that it is seldom profitable to use it for 
heating or the making of steam. 

There are many interesting stories of how men first 




284 



IN THE COAL REGIONS 285 

found that coal would burn. One comes from Belgium, 
the Kttle country which had such an important part in 
the World War. It tells of a blacksmith who was smelt- 
ing iron with charcoal, as was the custom in those days 
long ago. The blacksmith was poor, and he had to burn 
wood to make his own charcoal. This took so much time 
that he was not able to earn enough to support his family. 
He was about to kill himself in despair, when a white- 
bearded old man came into his shop and told him to dig 
the black earth out of the mountains near by and burn it. 
He did so, and was able to make a horseshoe at one forging. 

Another story relates to the discovery of anthracite. 
This tells of a hunter named Allen, who in pioneer days 
was camping one night in the region where we are now. 
He built a wood lire on some black stones, and roasted 
a part of the deer he had killed. He then lay down by 
the fire, and dropped off to sleep. He woke to find himself 
almost burning up. The stones were red hot and they 
gave forth a light blue flame. Pennsylvania anthracite 
was burning for the first time. 

Shortly after that a company was formed to sell the 
new coal in Philadelphia. But the people there had been 
used to soft coal, and did not know how to light the an- 
thracite. They could not make it burn, and thinking 
they had been cheated, got out a writ from the city au- 
thorities denouncing the sellers of anthracite as knaves 
who were trying to impose rocks upon the people for coal. 

The first bituminous coal found in America was discovered 
near Ottawa, Illinois, in 1679. Later, coal was discovered 
near Richmond, Virginia, by a boy wading in a small creek, 
when he stumbled on the outcroppings of the James River 
coal beds. The first coal mines of the United States were 
worked there. 



286 



NORTH AMERICA 




■■ Anthracite 
^S Bituminous coal 



Since then coal has been found in greater or less quanti- 
ties in almost every state of the Union. It is mined for 
sale in large quantities in twenty-five states, and in far-off 
Alaska; and we are told we have in our territory about 

half of all the coal 
of the world. Just 
before the World 
War a congress of 
expert geologists 
from many countries 
met in Toronto, 
Canada, and figured 
out the coal beds of 
Coal regions. g^^h continent. 

They estimated that the total amount is more than eight 
thousand billions of tons, of which, in round numbers, 
North America has about three fourths. According to 
their estimates our own coal reserves are over four 
thousand billions of tons, which is more than three times 
as much coal as that of all Asia and five times as much 
as that of the whole continent of Europe. Australia 
and Africa put together have less than one fifteenth as 
much as the coal reserves of the United States, and the 
only countries which have anything hke our vast beds of 
coal are Canada and China. Canada has about one third 
as much as we have and China less than one fourth. In- 
asmuch as the wealth and power of a country and its 
growth in manufacture and commerce depend largely 
upon its coal, it will be seen that we have a better chance 
to succeed than any other nation. 

Four thousand billion tons ! Our minds reel as we try 
to comprehend what it means. According to the estimates 
of Dr. Marius Campbell, an expert of our Geological 



WE VISIT A COAL MINE 287 

Survey, the amount is so great that if our workable coal 
could be dragged out of the earth and put in one soHd pile 
it would form a block more than eighteen miles long, 
eighteen miles wide, and eighteen miles high. Such a block 
would make a wall of solid coal a half mile in height, a 
mile wide, and long enough to extend clear around the 
United States and still leave enough to reach from New 
York to Chicago. Of this vast amount we have already 
mined not as much as one per cent, so that we have enough 
left to last us for hundreds of years. 



>>•{<: 



XL. WE VISIT A COAL MINE 

DURING our stay in Scranton we visit an anthra- 
cite mine. It is more than one thousand feet deep, 
and so many tunnels have been cut out of the coal that 
we can ride back and forth on the electric railroads within 
it for a distance of eighty-five miles. The mine is lighted 
by electricity, and enormous electric fans run by steam 
engines drive fresh air through its tunnels. We each have 
an acetylene hand lamp, as well as a little lamp filled with 
oil, such as the miners wear on their caps. We may go 
into some of the dark rooms of the mine, and must be 
provided against any failure of the current of electricity. 
Leaving the shaft at the bottom, we find ourselves in 
a city of coal. The tunnels are the streets and the cham- 
bers or rooms on each side, out of which the miners are 
taking the anthracite, are the houses. In them we see 
the miners boring into the black walls with drills worked 
by compressed air. After a hole is drilled they put in a 
blast, and later a series of explosions brings the great walls 



288 



NORTH AMERICA 



^^mi\ ■ 


^fc 


^^^^?w^ ■ "---~-~-«**|^^^ 


^^_-— :^q^ 




^^^H 








^^^^^p^ 


^^m 








^^^^F ^ 

^^H^ 






H^H^HB-^^ 


1, 1 




11 fi 


1 ^^ 1 i 

1 |#|WyHv 


L^B^^B 


^^v\ 









Miners about to ascend to surface in shaft cage, 
a lighted lamp on his cap. 



Each man wears 



of coal to the floor. It is then put on the cars and carried 
to the shaft, up which it goes to the breakers. 

As the anthracite comes from the mine it is mixed 
with quantities of stone, slate, and dust. It must be 
broken up and picked over before it is ready for sale. The 
breaking is done in a huge building almost as big as the 
grain elevators we saw at Minneapolis. The loaded cars 
run from the shaft into the building, and mechanically 
at the top of the breaker the coal is dumped upon moving 
bars, which throw out much of the slate and other refuse, 
and sort the coal into sizes. As the coal goes on it passes 
through crusher after crusher, and through machinery 



WE VISIT A CO;\L MINE 



289 




A coal breaker. The coal is carried to the top of the building, and 
is crushed and sorted as it moves downward. 



which removes more and more of the slate. In some cases 
it is run through water, and it is also picked over by boys. 

Coal is sold in eight different sizes, ranging from that 
of a grain of barley to great lumps. The larger coals, such 
as broken, egg, stove, and chestnut, are used mostly for 
heating, while the pea, buckwheat, rice, and barley coals 
are used more for the making of- steam. 

Leaving the anthracite region, we motor through ,the 
Appalachian Mountains westward towards Pittsburgh, 
passing many bituminous coal fields on the way. 

Most of the good coal of our country is bituminous. 
The Appalachian coal bed extends from northern Penn- 
sylvania down through these mountains into Alabama. 
It is eighty or ninety miles wide, and is one of the largest 
and richest of all coal deposits. We have another enor- 

CARP. N. AMER. — 18 



2go 



NORTH AMERICA 



mous bed of soft coal in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, 
and others in the central and southern parts of the Miss- 
issippi basin west of that river. There are quantities of 
bituminous coal in Ohio, North Dakota, Wyoming, and 

Colorado, and in Wash- 
ington, Montana, and 
Utah. Immense beds of 
soft coal are found in 
Alaska. 

The coal mine we shall 
visit is not far from Pitts- 
burgh, from which city 
a great deal of coal is 
shipped, both by rail 
and by river, to many 
parts of our country. 
Leaving Pittsburgh by 
boat, we ride up the 
Monongahela River, see- 
ing the black beds of 
coal standing out be- 
tween the rocks on the 
banks. Here and there 
are dark blotches show- 
ing in the green walls 
of the hills. Each blotch 
is the mouth of a coal mine, and the little village below 
it, with its dirty black houses along the narrow streets, 
is the home of the miners. 

See those cars, drawn by mules, coming out of 
that hill! Watch them as they run down the inclined 
railroads and discharge the coal into the barges below. 
For half a century the miners have been taking coal 




These breaker boys pick pieces of 
slate out of the coal (page 289). 



WE VISIT A COAL MINE 291 

out of these mines, and the beds are by no means ex- 
hausted. 

Leaving our boat, we enter one of the mines< and pass 
through tunnel after tunnel, our way being lighted by the 
lamps on our caps and those on the caps of the miners. 
Some of the men are covered with dust. They look like 
black ghosts in the dim light. 

Notice how the tunnels are propped with timbers, and 
how the water drips down as we pass through them. Here 
and there are huge pumps run by steam to take the water 
out of the mines. In wet mines like this there is often so 
much water that if the pumps should stop the mines would 
become flooded and the miners would drown. 

Look behind you and jump to the wall! Here is a car 
coming. It is hauled by a mule which goes on the trot. 
In many other mines the cars are moved by electricity 
and the tunnels are lighted by long lines of electric lights. 
Beside the tunnels there are many rooms or chambers 
much like those we saw in the anthracite mines. The 
methods of mining also are much the same, although there 
are no great coal breakers such as we saw at Scranton. 

According to the laws passed by our government great 
care must be taken in mining. There are laws about 
ventilating and draining the mines, and for preventing 
the explosions of fire damp, other gases, and dust, which, 
with a clap like thunder, sometimes send a whirlwind 
of flame through the tunnels, pulling down the timbers 
and caving in the walls. At such times the miners are 
blinded, scorched, and perhaps burned to cinders, hundreds 
being killed at one time. Some of the dangerous gases 
have no smell and to detect them canary birds are sometimes 
carried into the mines. When the birds begin to droop 
or look sick the miners know the air is not right. 



2()2 NORTH AMERICA 

XLI. PITTSBURGH— A GREAT WORKSHOP OF 
IRON AND STEEL — HOW COKE IS MADE 

WE are in Pittsburgh this morning, in one of the 
richest coal fields of the world. Situated in western 
Pennsylvania, where the Monongahela and Allegheny (aFe- 
ga-ni) rivers flow together to form the Ohio, and within a 
short distance by railway of the ports of the Great Lakes, 
Pittsburgh has great advantages for the making of iron 
and steel and for exporting its coal and other products to 
all parts of the United States and the world. The city 
has three navigable rivers and nine trunk lines of railway, 
and the cheap transportation of the Great Lakes brings 
the rich iron ore of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan 
almost to its doors. There is limestone near by, and so 
Pittsburgh can easily get everything needed for the smelt- 
ing and making of iron and steel. 

There are three hundred and fifty bituminous coal mines 
within a few miles of Pittsburgh and when all are working 
they produce annually more than one hundred million tons 
of this fuel. The coal goes out on the railroads in tens of 
thousands of tons every day. It is carried down the Ohio 
and Mississippi in long fleets of barges. It travels up the 
Great Lakes in enormous steamers; and it is used by the 
millions of tons in and around Pittsburgh for the manu- 
facture of all sorts of things made of iron and steel. 

At the time of our visit Pittsburgh is making more than 
one fourth of all the pig iron of the United States, and it 
has more than one hundred thousand men employed in 
its steel mills. Over forty-five thousand miners are em- 
ployed in the coal district, and more than half of all 
the coke produced in the United States comes from 
liere. 



HOW COKE IS MADE 295. 

This matter of coke is important. Coke is the form in 
which coal is most commonly used for the smelting of 
iron. It is bituminous coal with all the volatile gases and 
other impurities roasted out of it, so that what is left 
consists chiefly of carbon, or the heat-producing element 
in the hot fire needed for smelting. We can see how this 
is done by going to Connellsville, a short motor-car ride 
from Pittsburgh. The coal there yields about sixty-two 
per cent coke when roasted in what is known as the bee- 
hive coke oven; the remainder goes out in gases and drifts 
away in the air. 

In this process the coal is dumped into openings in the 
tops of the ovens. When an oven is full the door is sealed 
up, except for an inch at the top, and the coal is then lighted. 
It soon becomes red hot, and the heat is intense. The 
ovens are so made that very little air can reach the coal^ 
and it bums in such a way that the gases in it are all driven 
out, leaving chunks of a light, hard, porous or spongelike 
material, which burns easily and with a great heat. This 
is coke. The coke is cooled by letting cold water into the 
top of the oven, after which it is ready to be loaded upon 
cars for the furnaces. 

This is the old method of making coke. It is very waste- 
ful, for the twenty-eight per cent of the coal that goes off 
in the shape of gases contains some of the most valuable 
materials needed by man. In the first place, the gases 
themselves can be used for heating and lighting; and treated 
in a certain way they yield benzol, which is much like 
gasoline; toluol, which is valuable for explosives; and 
ammonium sulphate, one of our most valuable fertilizers. 
Some of our important drugs, dyestuffs, and other chem- 
icals are made from these gases, which, until a few years, 
ago, all went to waste. 



294 



NORTH AMERICA 



Now we have what are called by-product coke ovens, 
which save seventy-five per cent instead of sixty-two 
per cent of the coal and at the same time turn the re- 
mainder into gas, ammonia, benzol, and tar. The new 
ovens are like huge steel drawers placed on their sides 




Inside a by-product plant. Benzol is made here from coke gases. 

close together. The gases are carried off into tanks and 
made into benzol and other things, and the red-hot coke 
is then put into cars in which it is flooded with water, 
making a volume of steam which reminds one of a volcano 
in an eruption. 

During our stay in Pittsburgh we follow the processes 
of making the iron ore into pig iron, in which form it can 



MAKING IRON AND STEEL 295 

be kept and afterwards used for steel making. In making 
pig iron the ore is put into the blast furnace in layers 
sandwiched between layers of limestone and coke. Then 
a hot blast is introduced from below, which turns the con- 
tents of the furnace into a boiling, bubbhng mass of liquid 
fire. The blast has been first heated in what are known 
as the stoves — huge towers which will withstand a tem- 
perature of 1 00c degrees Fahrenheit. The air is heated 
to this temperature and then is blown into the furnace at 
a pressure of twenty pounds to the square inch. During 
the boiling, the impurities in the iron ore unite with the 
melted limestone, forming a slag which floats on the top 
as foam floats upon water. The melted iron, which is 
heavier, sinks to the bottom. The furnace men can tell 
just where the slag ends and the iron begins. They make 
a hole at that point in the side of the furnace, out of which 
the slag runs, leaving the iron. 

After all the slag has been taken away, a hole is made in 
the side of the furnace at the bottom of the mass of molten 
iron, which flows out in a golden stream, and is conducted 
into a bed of sand which looks for all the world like a 
garden ready for planting. It is covered with little hollows 
or molds. Each hollow is about the size of a stick of stove 
wood. The yellow stream flows into the molds and soon 
the garden is a flaming surface of bright yellow. As the 
iron cools it darkens and finally changes to gray. Each 
hollow contains what is known as an iron pig. The pigs 
are soon cold enough to be dragged out of the sand, and 
are then piled into stacks ready for shipment, or for use in 
the mills near by for all kinds of manufactures of iron and 
steel. 

We shall now see how pig iron is turned into steel. The 
molten iron may be taken as it flows from the furnace 




296 



MAKING IRON AND STEEL 297 

without turning it into pigs, or the cold pigs may be put 
into another furnace and melted again. The molten pig 
iron is drawn out from the furnace into huge ladles, each 
holding twenty tons. The ladles are upon car wheels, and 
they are carried by a locomotive on a railway to a great 
brick-lined oven of steel, which will hold the contents 
of about thirty ladles. This oven is known as a mixer, 
rnd its purpose is to mix the pig iron thoroughly with 
some other metals which are put in to improve the steel. 
The ladles are lifted by steam cranes, and their boiling, 
bubbling contents poured into the mixer. 

After this the iron goes to the Bessemer converter, where 
more of the impurities are taken out, and the molten mix- 
ture made into steel. The Bessemer converter is an egg- 
shaped steel barrel, so large that it might serve as a bath 
tub for an elephant. It is lined with material that will 
withstand great heat, and is hung on pivots in such a way 
that it may be turned back and forth or tilted at various 
angles. The barrel is so made that an air blast can be 
forced in at a pressure of thirty pounds to the inch. As 
the air roars through the molten mass it takes out the im- 
purities and turns them into gases which burst forth from 
the top of the converter in millions of sparks, forming 
giant sky rockets, which grow and grow until the sparks 
join together in flames. As the blast continues, the flames 
rise higher and higher, reaching up and licking the steel 
roof far overhead. The torch of flaming gases is now ten 
feet or more in diameter. It makes us think of a volcano 
of living fire. The heat is about three thousand degrees 
Fahrenheit. It is so great that at the end of twelve minutes 
the impurities have been reduced to gases and blown out, 
and the liquid iron has become liquid steel. 

After this the steel is poured by machinery into molds, 




.298 



MAKING IRON AND STEEL 299 

forming ingots. Each ingot is a great block of steel about 
a foot square and four or more feet in height. It is the raw 
steel of commerce, and is run through rolling mills and 
other machines to turn it into the bars, plates, and thou- 
sands of steel products used in our industries. 

A large part of the steel, of commerce goes into the 
making of steel rails. In this process the ingots, which 
have been cut into pieces, or blooms, and again heated 
white hot, are passed back and forth between steel rollers, 
which press and mold the metal as though it were putty. 
As the bloom enters the rolls, it is a great thick block of 
hot steel, and when it leaves them it is a steel rail ready 
to be laid on the track. All this work is done by massive 
machinery with little man power. We get some idea of 
the capacity of one of the mills when its foreman tells us 
that the steel rails it makes in one day would be sufficient 
to lay ten miles of track, and that within one year it would 
furnish enough for a railway reaching from the end of 
Cape Cod on the Atlantic to the Bay of San Francisco, on 
the opposite side of the continent. 

In the past the slag of the furnaces all went to waste. It 
is now used to make cement and fertilizers. As the slag 
cools, after it comes from the furnaces, it is as hard as 
stone. It must be reduced to a powder before it can be 
used. This is done by means of a huge ball of steel as tall 
as a man and weighing fifteen tons. How do you think 
the great mass can be raised high into the air and dropped 
upon the slag to crush it to powder? The raising is done 
by a crane, with the aid of an electric magnet, after the 
same principle as that of the horseshoe magnet with which 
one lifts tacks. The electric magnet is so powerful that 
as it touches the top of the steel ball it becomes almost a 
part of the metal, and when it is drawn up by the chains 



300 



NORTH AMERICA 



attached to the great crane above, the ball rises. When 
the ball has reached the right height, the man in the crane 
moves a lever which shuts off the electricity, and the huge 
mass of steel drops with a crash on the slag. Similar 
magnets are used in lifting steel rails and moving them 
about. Two of them moved by a traveling crane overhead 
will lift up fifteen rails at one time and lay them down on 
the cars. 

We shall learn more about steel as we travel in other 
parts of the United States. The chief centers of the steel 
industry, besides Pittsburgh and Birmingham, are Chicago, 
Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and other cities on the Great 
Lakes, where the iron ore from Lake Superior can be easily 
brought. 

We spend some time at Pittsburgh seeing its many 
industries of one kind or another. We go from the various 
steel mills, in which one hundred thousand men are em- 





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Barge loads of pipe from a Pittsburgh factory starting down the 
Ohio River on their long journey to New Orleans. 



PITTSBURGH 301 

ployed, to the factories making tinplate, which are also 
enormous. We spend some time in the glass works, where 
men are blowing window glass by machinery, and wander 
through a great electrical manufacturing plant that has a 
floor space of one hundred acres. 

Pittsburgh has the largest cork mill of the world. The 
cork comes from the bark of an oak tree in Portugal. The 
bottle stoppers made here go out to all parts of the world, 
and we may use one of these very corks when out fishing 
some day. 

Pittsburgh makes locomotives and steel cars for our 
railways; it makes structural steel for our large office 
buildings, and steel for bridges, some of which is exported 
to Asia and Africa. It leads all other cities In the manu- 
facture of aluminum, a soft, light, white metal made from 
some kinds of clay, and of vanadium, a metal found In 
the high Andes, and valuable in steel making. The city 
is indeed a beehive of industries and the country for miles 
about teems with factories. 

1. Where does coal come from? Mention the two most important 
varieties and some of the things for which they are used. 

2. Bring a lump of coal to class and let it tell its life story. How 
did a boy discover the Virginia coal mines? 

3. Point out on a map of the United States the location of our 
coal regions. Compare them with the coal beds of the world. Of 
the continents. Of other coal countries. 

4. Where is our principal anthracite coal region? Where do we 
find bituminous coal? 

5. Visit a mine and tell what you see. 

6. Ship a cargo of coal by water from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, 
describing the route. From Pittsburgh by rail and water via Cleve- 
land and Duluth to St. Paul. 

7. Locate Pittsburgh, and show why it is a great iron and steel 
manufacturing center. 

8. What is coke and how is it made, by the old method? By 



302 NORTH AMERICA 

the new method? What advantages have the new method over the 
old? Mention some of the by-products saved by the new method 
of making coke. 

9. How is pig iron made? 

10. Take a trip through a steel plant and tell what you see. Find 
out all you can about our iron and steel industry. (See Carpenter's 
"How the World is Housed," pages 142-163.) 

11. Find out all you can about glass and how it is made. (See 
Carpenter's ''How the World is Housed," pages 188-204.) 

12. Where does our cork come from? (See Carpenter's "Europe," 
page 485.) Trace a shipment of cork from there to Pittsburgh, 
coming from New York by rail. About how far does it travel? 



XLII. AKRON AND THE RUBBER INDUSTRY- 
CINCINNATI, LOUISVILLE, AND INDIANAPOLIS 

WE might take a steamer at Pittsburgh and go with 
the coal barges down the Ohio River to Cincinnati. 
The country is more hilly than along the lower Mississippi, 
the farms are smaller, and there are manufacturing towns 
near the river fed by the coal, oil, and gas fields of Penn- 
sylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. At East 
Liverpool, Ohio, beautiful china and pottery are made 
from the white clay near by, and Wheeling and Bellaire 
(bel-ar') manufacture glassware, including millions of bot- 
tles of all sizes and shapes. Further downstream is Point 
Pleasant, where General Ulysses S. Grant was born, and 
still farther on is Georgetown, where he worked on his 
father's farm. 

We should find the trip interesting, but there are other 
things more important, and we decide to motor about 
through northern Ohio and go to Cincinnati by rail. Leav- 
ing Pittsburgh, a ride of three hours takes us to Youngs- 



AKRON AND THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



303 



town, another steel-making city in the Ohio coal region, 
and an hour more lands us in Akron. 

We are now in what might be called Rubberopolis. 
Akron is the chief rubber-manufacturing center of the 
world. It has more than twenty factories which make 
things of rubber, and the rubber tires made each year for 




Making rubber belting in an x'\kron factory. 



motor cars and trucks and for motor cycles, bicycles, and 
airplanes count up to millions. Indeed, the motor traffic 
of to-day is cushioned in Akron. There are other depart- 
ments of the factories which make rubber sheets, and 
belts and conveyors such as we saw carrying the grain in 
the wheat elevators, and others which make hot-water 
bottles, boots and shoes, diving suits and raincoats, ink 
and pencil erasers, elastic bands, and balls for tennis and 
other games. Indeed, there are more than thirty thou- 



304 



NORTH AMERICA 



sand different articles in which rubber is used, and the 
principal ones are made here. 

We can learn all about rubber in Akron, for it has rubber 
experts from all parts of the earth. They tell us that 
some of the world's rubber comes from the wild trees of 
the forests of the Amazon valley, but most of it from the. 
cultivated trees in the plantations of Ceylon, Java, Suma- 
tra, and the Malay Peninsula. They show us photographs 
of men gathering rubber, and tell us it is the latex or juice 
from the bark of the trees. The trees are tapped so that 
the juice oozes out. It is collected from day to day and 
smoked, or cured in other ways, and made into great lumps 
or sheets for the market. 




An army dirigible balloon made at Akron. It is of finest rubber and 
is filled with gas. The bag is 200 feet long. 



COLUMBUS, CINCINNATI, ETC. 305 

The rubber men take us through the factories where the 
crude rubber is softened in vats of hot water, and then 
crushed between great rollers of steel so that it comes out 
in sheets. It is next washed to get out the dirt. It is 
crushed and kneaded and cleaned by machinery again and 
again. It is treated with sulphur and other materials 
until it has the right texture and form needed for rubber 
goods. 

Each kind of goods requires its own process of prepara- 
tion and making, and there are so many different things 
going on that we might spend weeks and not see them all. 
The best rubber tires are made of cloth, cord, and rubber 
so put together that they will stand the wear and tear of 
thousands of miles of hard travel. 

Leaving Akron, we motor to Canton, another manu- 
facturing city, noted also as the home and burial place 
of President McKinley, and then go by train to Columbus, 
the capital of Ohio, and a busy industrial center owing 
to the many railways and the coal, iron, and natural gas 
fields near by. We visit the old stone State House, passing 
the monument to President McKinley on the way in, and 
taking a look at the group of statues at the northwest 
corner. The group is called Ohio's Jewels, and the statues 
composing it are those of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Chase, 
Stanton, Garfield, and Hayes. Three were presidents of 
the United States; three were famous generals of our 
Civil War; Chase was chief justice of the Supreme Court; 
and Stanton was Secretary of War under Lincoln. All 
were bom in Ohio. We wonder if the statues of President 
Benjamin Harrison and President Harding will some day 
be added; for they too were born in this state. 

The trip from Columbus to Cincinnati is through a rich 
farming country, with manufacturing towns and villages 

CARP. N. AMER.— 19 



3o6 NORTH AMERICA 

at every few miles. On the way we pass through Dayton, 
where we see the airplane factories founded by the Wright 
brothers, who made the first successful fhght of a heavier- 
than-air flying machine. Here also are made cash regis- 
ters, which are used all over the world. 

Cincinnati has so many factories and foundries that it 
reminds us of Pittsburgh. It is located on the Ohio River 
and has many trunk lines of railway which go out in every 
direction. The city is built upon a terrace surrounded 
by a semicircle of hills, upon which the finest residences 
stand. We take motor cars and ride up the hills for a 
view of the city. It covers all together seventy square miles, 
and the buildings run for twenty-two miles along the Ohio. 

A night's ride on the steamer lands us in Louisville, the 
largest city of Kentucky. It is noted as a tobacco center, 
and it has factories of other kinds. During our stay we 
go outside the town to see the grave of President Zachary 
Taylor, who was buried near his old home five miles away, 
and we wish we had time to visit the log cabin in another 
part of the state where Abraham Lincoln was born. We 
should like also to see Mammoth Cave, which is one of 
our natural wonders. It consists of a series of chambers 
and underground halls many miles long. Some of the 
chambers have domes with holes in the top through which 
one can see the blue sky. Passages and avenues lead from 
room to room, and there is a natural bridge in the cave 
four hundred and fifty feet long. 

Leaving Kentucky, we cross the Ohio River, and three 
hours by train brings us to Indianapolis. It is the capital 
of Indiana and an important railroad and manufacturing 
center. It is here that Benjamin Harrison, the twenty- 
third president of the United States, lived, and here James 
Whitcomb Riley wrote ''The Raggedy Man," "Little 



CHICAGO 307 

Orphant Annie," "The Old Swimmin' Hole" and others 
of his poems. We visit the house where Riley lived, and 
then look at the statues of some of Indiana's great men 
in Monument Place. We walk through the state capitol, 
drive about through the beautiful residence section, and 
then take a train for Chicago. 

1. Write a list of a dozen articles in which rubber is used. 

2. Bring a rubber ball or pencil eraser to class and let it tell the 
story of its adventures. In what city are most of our rubber goods 
made? (For further information about rubber see Carpenter's 
"South America," page 343, and Carpenter's "How the World is 
Clothed," pages 240-261.) 

3. Name six important towns of Ohio and tell for what each is 
noted. 

4. Why is the group of statutes at the State House in Columbus 
called "Ohio's Jewels"? What Presidents were born in Ohio? 
What other state was the home of many Presidents? 

5. Locate the chief commercial center of Kentucky. For what 
is it noted? What President is buried near this city? 

6. Make an imaginary trip to Mammoth Cave and describe it. 

7. What poet lived in Indianapolis? What President? Tell all 
you can about them. 



XLIII. CHICAGO 

WE must wake up this morning and keep our eyes open. 
We are in one of the liveliest and most enterprising 
cities on earth. Chicago is second in size among the cities 
of the United States and it is surpassed only by New York, 
London, and Paris in all the world. By the census of 1920 it 
had more than twenty-seven hundred thousand inhabitants, 
or more people than any one of thirty-six states of the 
Union. The city does more business than many of our 



3o8 NORTH AMERICA 

states, and Its streets and alleys if joined together would 
reach farther than the public roads of many of them. 

Chicago is the chief distributing center of the interior 
of the United States. Forty per cent of our railway mile- 
age terminates here, and the Great Lakes also give the 
city access to a vast population in this country and Canada, 
forming a waterway to and from the ocean. The whole- 
sale trade of Chicago is three or four billion dollars a year. 
It is the chief Hve-stock, grain, and lumber market of the 
world, and one of its greatest manufacturing centers. 
It has eleven thousand industrial establishments and 
produces goods every year to the amount of more than one 
biUion dollars. 

Chicago is a baby among the great cities of the world. 
Boston and New York were more than two hundred years 
old when it was founded, and London and Paris were not 
far from two thousand years old. The first settlement in 
Chicago was made about 1830, and as late as 1843 "the 
city council enacted a law that hogs should no longer run 
at large through its streets. In 1837 it had only four 
thousand inhabitants, and for long after that time, the 
place where the biggest buildings now stand was a swamp 
and the ground was so wet that no cellars could be dug. 
The swamp came right down to the lake, just where the 
people wanted their city. 

What the people did shows the enterprising spirit of 
Chicago, a spirit that has aided greatly in making it the 
city it is to-day. They decided that the town must have 
a soKd foundation, so they hfted their houses on stilts 
and brought in earth from the country about. As the 
city grew they drove piles down to make the foundations 
and erected buildings upon them, and later invented 
foundations of steel and concrete so designed that they 



CHICAGO 309 

would support the great buildings above. In this way the 
height of the land near the lake was raised fifteen feet, 
and the huge structures upon it are as firm as those of 
New York. Indeed, no one would imagine that the land 
here had ever been a swamp. 

In addition to the huge buildings on the surface, Chicago 
has constructed a network of tunnels far under the ground. I 
Some of the tunnels are for electric light and power, some 
for telegraph and telephone lines, and some for the freight 
traffic, which is so great that it cannot all be accommo- 
dated above. 

The water supply comes through pipes from cribs two 
miles out in the lake, in order that the purity of the water 
may not be affected by the refuse near the shores. This 
is considered so important to the health of the city that 
people have turned the Chicago River figuratively speak- 
ing upside down and made it carry the sewage to the 
Mississippi system and so to the Gulf of Mexico. The 
river at one time flowed into the lake, but by means of 
the Chicago Drainage Canal its waters now go into the 
Illinois River, which flows into the Mississippi. At some 
time in the future these waterways may be made into a 
ship canal which will bring the traffic of the ocean via 
the Gulf to Chicago. We have already seen at Niagara 
how the Canadians claim that some of our share of the 
waters of the Great Lakes thus passes off into the Gulf 
of Mexico, and how we are taking less of the power of the 
falls on that account. j^ 

But why has such a great city grown up at this point? 
The answer is that Chicago is located at the place farthest 
southwest on the Great Lakes in the heart of the corn belt, 
and at the cross roads between the industrial East and 
the agricultural and ore-producing West; it is within easy 



3IO 



NORTH AMERICA 



access of the cotton fields of the South, and the great 
iron and copper mines of the North. The city has the 
cheapest water transportation and the best railroad facili- 
ties. There are vast coal deposits just south of it, and it 
is within easy reach of the Appalachian coal mines. It 




Swimming pool in Chicago. 



CHICAGO 3ir 

has cheap copper and iron ore from about Lake Superior^ 
and lumber from the forests about the Great Lakes. It 
receives enormous suppKes of grain by water and rail. 
As a result of these things Chicago is one of the best places 
in the world in which to do business and to make things 
to sell. In South Chicago, and Gary near by, are steel 
plants quite as wonderful as those we saw about Pittsburgh, 
and in some parts of the city are plants making machinery 
which are greater than those of any other country. One 
such factory turns out a reaper and binder every minute 
throughout the day. Another section of the city is de- 
voted to making steel cars, others to elevators and grain 
and flour mills, and others to the great meat-packing 
establishments which we shall see later on. 

We choose one of the sight-seeing automobiles for our 
tour through Chicago. Seated high above the rest of the 
vehicles, we spend a day in riding over the magnificent 
boulevards along the lake and out through the parks. 
The city is almost surrounded by parks, every one of which 
has baseball grounds, golf links, and tennis courts. There 
are so many places for bathing that it is said every boy in 
Chicago lives within easy walking distance of a swimming- 
hole of one kind or another. 

Near the center of the city, we cross the Chicago River. 
The bridge is as busy as the one which crosses the Thames 
(temz) in the heart of London. Riding on, we find ourselves 
in the loop district, which is perhaps the most thickly 
populated business section of the world. Here in a space 
not larger than a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, 
shut off by the river, the lake, and the railways, a quarter 
of a million people are at work every day and almost two 
millions walk through the streets. The buildings are of 
enormous size. They remind us of the huge structures of 




312 



CHICAGO 313 

lower New York. The loop has nineteen streets, nearly 
all of which have street car lines on them. We are told 
that more than twenty thousand street cars and one hun- 
dred and thirty thousand vehicles pass through every day. 

Going on through the business section, we cross Washing- 
ton, Madison, Jefferson, and Adams streets, and the guide 
shouts out through his horn that they were named after 
the Presidents. He adds that a boy asked him the other 
day how it came that the Presidents of the United States 
were named after the streets of Chicago. We laugh with 
him. The guide says that Chicago is famous as a conven- 
tion city, and that the national conventions which nom- 
inated Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, Cleveland, Harrison, 
Roosevelt, Taft, and Harding for President were all held in 
Chicago. 

Leaving the business part of the city, we visit some of 
the manufacturing sections, watching the workmen as 
they go in and out. We are surprised to see so many 
foreigners. A large part of our immigrants have come 
here to work, so many indeed that we are told that about 
three fourths of the people of Chicago are foreign bom or 
children of foreign-bom parents. The city has about 
four hundred thousand Germans, more than two hundred 
thousand Poles,. and an almost equal number of Russians. 
It has many Irish, Swedes, Italians, Scotch, English, and 
Danes. It has Bohemians from Czechoslovakia, as well 
as thousands of Lithuanians. It is said that each of four- 
teen foreign languages is spoken by ten thousand people or 
more, and that the Chicago newspapers are printed in 
ten different languages, while the preachers give sermons 
in twenty different tongues. 

We believe in having citizens who speak English, and we 
ask about the schools needed to make the children of this 



314 NORTH AMERICA 

great foreign population patriotic Americans. We are told 
that a schoolhouse is to be found on almost every street, 
and that Chicago already has more than eight thousand 
teachers and more than one third of a million children in 
its public schools. It has also universities and professional 
schools, and the books in its libraries number more than 
two millions. 

XLIV. A CITY OF ANIMALS —WE VISIT 
MILWAUKEE 

CHICAGO has a city of animals in the midst of its 
great city of men. This city is the Union Stockyards, 
where about seventeen million sheep, cattle, and hogs are 
received every year. This is so many that if they could be 
driven along in single file, allowing each animal ten feet 
on the roadway, the procession would reach more than one 
and a half times around the world at the equator. These 
animals are coming into Chicago at every hour of the day 
and night throughout the year, and at the same time long 
trains are starting out carrying beef, pork, and mutton 
and their many by-products to all parts of the United 
States, and to our seaports for shipment abroad. 

We take automobiles at our hotel, and ride to the stock- 
yards. The air is filled with the bellowing of steers, the 
bleating of sheep, and the shrill squealing of pigs. Here 
great droves of cattle are being unloaded and driven this 
way and that to be sold or be killed. There cars loaded 
with pigs are discharging their freight, and coming out of 
the trains farther on are long lines of sheep. 

We climb to the roof of a tall building inside the yards 
and look down. We are in the midst of the animal city,. 



A CITY OF ANIMALS 



315 



divided into sections and wards, the houses of which are 
covered and uncovered pens, built along streets that 
cross one another at right angles. Each section has its 
own kind of four-footed inhabitants. Here is one devoted 
to cattle, the pens of which hold two or three hundred 
steers. The pens have no roofs, and we can look down 





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A small part of the Union Stock Yards, Chicago. 



•on the backs of the cattle. Near by is a ward filled with 
sheep. It has enough lambs to supply all the Marys of 
the schools of our town, and they all seem to be bleating. 
On the opposite side of the road are hogs, large and small, 
each ward containing tens of thousands of grunters. 

Look down into the pens. Each has a long trough for 
water, and another for food. There are thousands of such 
troughs, and the feeding boxes if joined together would 
reach many miles. The water comes from artesian wells 



3i6 NORTH AMERICA 

twelve hundred feet deep, so that the supply filters in 
from below the bed of Lake Michigan. 

Observe the factories about; thev are the killing and 
meat-packing establishments. See how the railroad tracks 
extend out in every direction. The cars come in from 
every part of the corn belt, and go out to every town in 
our country. There is a canal at one side of the yards, 
upon which boats can bring animals in from Lake Mich- 
igan, and the place has every means of transportation for 
carrying in these animals as the raw material, and for 
sending out the meat and other products into which they 
are made. 

What are those high buildings in the center of the city? 
They might be called the market house, for it is there that 
the stock men and packers come to buy and sell the four- 
footed citizens. The animals in the pens are changed 
every day. Those now below us will be dead by this time 
to-morrow, and another horde will have taken their places. 
As many as ninety thousand hogs, seventy thousand 
sheep, and nine thousand calves have passed through here 
in the space of twenty-four hours. 

But let us go down into the city. It is early morning, 
and the streets are filled with hogs, cattle, and sheep 
moving from one street to another. Some of the drovers 
are on horseback and some on foot. They have great whips 
which they crack as they yell at the beasts. At the same 
time the agents of the packing houses are looking over the 
stock. They seem to buy at a glance, and when the selling 
hours are over, the animals are driven off to be slaughtered. 

Let us go with them and see how this is done. The 
packing houses are more like huge factories than the small 
slaughterhouses of a village. We follow the hogs. They 
go in alive at one end and do not stop until they come out 



A CITY OF ANIMALS 317 

at the other in roasts and chops, and in hams, bacon, 
sausage, and lard. From the refuse are made buttons, 
hairbrushes, soap, and a hundred other things. Upon in- 
quiry we find that every part of the body is used ; and when 
the butchers tell us that they can sell in one shape or 
another every bit of the hog but his squeal, we wonder 
if a phonograph might not preserve that. 

The same is true of the cattle and sheep, scarcely an 
atom of meat, bone, blood, or hair going to waste. The 
bones are made into fertilizer, and into bone black for 
the refining of sugar. They are turned into hairpins and 
combs, and are used as knife handles. The hoofs and the 
scraps of bone and skin become glue. The blood also is 
used as a fertilizer. The hides go to the tanners, and the 
very ones they are taking off now may come back to us 
next winter as soles for our boots and shoes. The wool 
is pulled from the sheepskins, and the skins afterwards 
used for the making of gloves. Some parts of each animal 
are turned into medicines, extracts, and tonics; and others 
into soups and the many meat products served in cans. 
Indeed, we might fill many pages with a list of the things 
made in these packing houses. 

Much of the meat is sold fresh, being shipped over the 
country to the towns and villages in cold storage cars, and 
a great deal of it goes to the seaports, where it is placed in 
the cold chambers of the steamers for its long ride over 
the ocean. 

Chicago is an excellent place to learn about the live stock 
of the United States, and our great meat-packing industry. 
It is to meat what Akron is to rubber, and Detroit to the 
automobile. Its stockyards are larger than those of any 
other city, although much meat packing is done at Omaha, 
St. Joseph, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, and Fort 



3i8 NORTH AMERICA 

Worth, and there are smaller yards in other parts of the 
country where animals are killed. The capital involved in 
the business of meat production in this country amounts 
to about eighteen billion dollars. The United States 
produces more meat than any other part of the world. 
The countries which compete with us in the markets of 
Europe are Canada and Argentina in beef, and Argentina, 
Australia, and New Zealand in mutton. 

Leaving Chicago, we go by automobile northward along 
the western shores of Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, the 
largest city of Wisconsin. The distance is eighty-five 
miles, but the road is fine and our cheeks are fanned by the 
breezes fresh from the lake. 

Milwaukee lies on Lake Michigan, near the mouth of 
the Milwaukee River. The harbor has been protected by 
a breakwater, and this river and two of its branches have 
been so dredged and widened that the shipping comes 
right to the doors of the factories and warehouses, as it 
does in Hamburg and Rotterdam. The port has a large 
trade, and it is noted for its meat packing, its tanneries, 
and manufactures of various kinds. It gets its ore and 
coal by the lakes and makes many things of iron and steel, 
including much of the machinery used in our flour mills. 
It grinds thousands of barrels of flour every day, and 
makes a cream-colored brick which is shipped all over the 
country. 

During our stay we drive about through the residence 
section, which is on a bluff one hundred and fifty feet above 
the lake, and go out to Washington Park, where there is 
a large herd of deer. We motor along Sheridan Drive, 
which looks out on Lake Michigan, and later make a 
photograph of the City Hall, which has an illuminated 
clock dial, visible at night two miles away. 



WE VISIT MILWAUKEE 



319 




Grand Avenue, Milwaukee. 

Milwaukee is sometimes called the German Athens of 
America on account of its many German citizens of learn- 
ing and culture. Several of its daily newspapers are printed 
in German. The city has excellent schools and colleges. 

1. Locate Chicago and show why it has become such a great city. 
Compare it in size and age with other very large cities. 

2. What river connects Chicago with the Mississippi River? 
Show the advantages of the city as a railway and commercial center. 

3. Trace a cargo of iron ore from Lake Superior to Chicago. A 
cargo of grain by water from Chicago to New York. A threshing 
machine to Siberia. 



THE GREAT WESTERN HIGHLAND 321 

4. Why was the drainage canal built? How does it affect the 
supply of electric power at Niagara? 

5. Where is the loop? Describe it. Why is so much business 
done there? 

6. Why has Chicago so many foreigners? Is this a good thing 
for a city? 

7. Make a visit to the stockyards and tell what you see. Why 
is Chicago the center of our meat-packing industry? Name some 
of the articles made in the meat-packing factories. 

8. Tell the story of a hog from its piggyhood in the corn belt to 
the shop of your town. (See Carpenter's "How the World is Fed," 
page 92.) 

g. What other countries export large quantities of meat? Which 
excels in beef? Which in mutton? 

10. Where is Milwaukee? Mention some of the things for which 
the city is noted. 

XLV. ON THE ROOF OF OUR CONTINENT — THE 
GREAT WESTERN HIGHLAND 

OUR next travels are to be on the roof of the North 
American continent. We shall go west from Lake 
Michigan over the prairies to the Mississippi River, and 
there begin a gradual cHmb which will take us about a 
mile above the sea to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 
We shall cross over these mountains into the Great West- 
em Highland, which is walled in by the Rockies on the 
east, and by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains 
on the west. The highland is an almost arid plateau high 
above the sea level, with ranges of mountains running 
through it from the north to the south. It extends through 
the United States from Canada to Mexico, and in places is 
as wide as from Chicago to Boston. Some of the moun- 
tains rise almost three miles above the sea. The plateau 
extends south almost to Panama, and north to Alaska, 



322 NORTH AMERICA 

where it includes Mt. McKinley, the highest point in 
North America, having an altitude of about twenty thou- 
sand five hundred feet. 

The Western Highland has deserts where one may travel 
for hours and see nothing but sagebrush and dusty-gray 
earth, with here and there perhaps the mounds of a prairie 
dog village. It has tracts of thin grass upon which are fed 
great flocks of sheep ; a large part of our wool comes from 
this high, arid country. It has extensive forests in the 
regions where there is a more abundant rainfall, and in the 
desert are found many oases, made possible by the dams 
erected by our government to store up the mountain rains 
and snows for irrigation. It is the treasure land of the 
United States as far as minerals are concerned. Nearly 
everywhere through it are to be found gold, silver, and 
copper, and in places there are beds of coal, including 
some of good anthracite. 

The plateau is divided into eight states of enormous 
size. Montana is surpassed only by Texas and California. 
Colorado is twice the size of New York. New Mexico is 
about four times the size of South CaroUna, and Utah and 
Idaho are each twice as large as Kentucky or Virginia. 
Nevada is almost twice as large as Illinois, and Arizona is 
of about the same size. The state of Wyoming would make 
twelve the size of Massachusetts, and as for Rhode Island, 
it would be lost in some counties of our Western High- 
land. 

The highland is sparsely settled on account of its desert 
character, but it has some cities, such as Denver in Colo- 
rado, Butte in Montana, Boise in Idaho, and Salt Lake City 
in Utah, which have grown up largely on account of min- 
ing. There are other cities in the irrigated valleys, and 
mining settlements scattered about through the regions 



THE GREAT WESTERN HIGHLAND 323 

of gold, silver, and copper production. But we shall see 
this in detail as we travel over the country. 

The first part of our journey is through the com belt. 
On our way west we pass through Wisconsin and Iowa, 
and stop at the fine commercial and manufacturing city 
of Omaha, on the Missouri River. Rich crops continue 
throughout eastern Nebraska, and farther on we see cat- 
tle and sheep feeding on the dry grass almost to the foot 
of the mountains. The latter part of our journey is 
through the Great Plains, which run north and south from 
Canada to Mexico. They begin west of the Missouri and 
gradually rise until they are about a mile above sea level 
at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The lands grow 
drier as we travel westward, but as we near Denver, we 
come out of the desert into a wide strip of green fields 
irrigated by the snow waters of the Rockies. The fields 
are cut by canals, and wheat, oats, and alfalfa are to be 
seen on both sides of the railway. 

Beyond this strip of green we behold the Rocky Moun- 
tains. They rise up in the distance in a great wall of blue, 
crested with snow that shines like silver in the rays of the 
sun. Fleecy white clouds rise from some of the peaks, 
and we can hardly tell where the cloud wall ends and the 
snow wall begins. 

We spend a few days in Denver. It is a beautiful city, 
a mile above the sea and right on the edge of the Rockies. 
It has grown on account of the mining industry of the 
western plateau which is tributary to it, and the grazing 
and agricultural regions near by. It is the leading indus- 
trial center of the Western Highland, one of its chief 
products being mining and smelting machinery. It is 
noted, also, for its beautiful residential sections and its 
fine, dry climate. 

CARP. N. AMER.^20 



324 NORTH AMERICA 

Denver is one of the chief gateways to the mountains, 
and to most of our national playgrounds, the great public 
parks and forest reservations which the government has 
set aside upon the plateau. There are mountain parks 
almost on the edge of Denver, and Pikes Peak, which rises 
almost two miles above it, is only a few miles distant by rail. 

Pikes Peak is named after Zebulon Pike, who discovered 
the mountain more than a century ago and tried to climb 
it. He failed, and as he turned back he remarked that 
nothing but a bird could reach that snowy summit. 

But we shall reach the top of Pikes Peak, traveling at 
our ease in a car. A railroad like the one upon which 
we went to the top of Mt. Washington takes us up its 
steep slopes, until at last when we step from the train we 
are almost three miles above the level of Washington, D. C, 
where we started upon our long tour. There is snow on 
the top of the mountain, and we make snowballs and 
have a snow light while we stay. 

Standing upon Pikes Peak, we have a wonderful pano- 
rama of mountains and valleys. Stretching to the east- 
ward are the Great Plains, dotted with villages and cities, 
which are mere specks on the landscape. At our feet is 
the Garden of the Gods, a valley filled with huge rock 
formations, so far down that it looks like a flower bed. 
To the north and south and off to the west rise hill upon 
hill and mountain upon mountain, looking like piles of 
rocks of gigantic size, thrown together in all sorts of shapes. 
As we stand on the peak the clouds are floating above and 
below us. Now they sweep upward, and for a time we 
are enveloped in mist. Now a thunderstorm breaks down 
the slope. The lightning flashes against the rocks, and 
we hear the deep roll of thunder in the rain storm far 
below us. 















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L 





Pikes Peak, as seen from near Colorado Springs. 




Railroad up Pikes Peak. A cogwheel on the engine fits into cogs on 
the center rail. 

325 



326 NORTH AMERICA 

XLVI. OUR NATION'S WONDERLAND — THE 
NATIONAL PARKS 

THE western plateau is the wonderland of America. 
There is no other place in the world where we can see 
so many marvelous things. It has waterfalls higher than 
Niagara, deserts almost as dry and dreary as the Sahara, 
forests which have been turned into stone and other forests 
whose trees are so big that a large schoolroom could be 
cut out inside the trunk of one of them and leave room to 
spare. 

Within two or three days ' ride of Pikes Peak lie some of 
our greatest natural wonders. Going to the northwest we 
can reach the hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone Park, 
and going still farther in the same direction we can reach 
Glacier Park, where more than sixty ice rivers are moving 
slowly down the mountains. We can go to the southwest 
to the Mesa Verde Park, where were the homes of the 
cliff dwellers, and can actually go through some of the 
homes of those ancient Indians. They lived in caves and 
in houses which they built in the cliffs, reaching them by 
ladders or zigzag trails from their farms in the valleys be- 
low. 

Farther on to the southwest is the Grand Canyon of the 
Colorado, where the river flows between the walls of the 
deepest and longest cut in the earth crust known to man. 
The canyon, cut out by the river, is a mile deep, fifteen 
miles wide at the top, and two hundred miles long. The 
space is half filled with rock masses carved into forms 
which resemble gigantic castles, temples, and cathedrals. 
If they stood on the plateau they would form a rugged 
range of mountains a mile high. Their walls are highly 
colored in tints of red, chocolate, yellow, and gray. These 




Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona. The walls of the 

canyon are brightly colored. Notice how small the man at the 

upper left appears. 



327 



328 



NORTH AMERICA 



colors change from morning to evening, and sometimes 
the canyon is hidden by clouds floating in its depths. The 
Colorado River rises in Colorado, and drains a large part 
of the Rockies. 

Traveling to the north and south through the Western 
Highland we shall find many other natural wonders. In 





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Edwin Natural Bridge in Utah, 104 feet high and 194 feet long. 

Utah there are huge bridges of stone, formed by nature, 
which far surpass the natural bridge of Virginia. In Cali- 
fornia are lakes such as Ta'hoe, at an altitude higher than 
that of Mt. Washington, and in Oregon, in the heart of the 
Cascades, is Crater Lake, whose bed is the top of an ex- 
tinct volcano as high as Mt. Shasta, which is in plain 
■sight a hundred miles off to the south. Crater Lake is 
surrounded by gray lava and its water is the bluest of blue. 



THE NATIONAL PARKS 329 

It is two thousand feet deep, and as far as one can see it 
has no inlet or outlet, although some of the water is sup- 
posed to escape underground and to reappear in the Klam- 
ath River, a few miles away. The Mount Rainier (ra-ner') 
National Park near Seattle (se-at"l) has twenty-eight 
glaciers, some of which are five hundred feet thick, and 
the Rocky Mountain Park in Colorado has snow-clad 
peaks, one of which is more than fourteen thousand feet 
high. 

Altogether Uncle Sam has set aside nineteen great parks, 
which are to be kept on account of their scenery and 
grandeur as the playgrounds of the nation. Some of them 
contain buffalo, moose, elk, bear, and other wild animals, 
which no one is allowed to shoot or disturb. Others have 
mountain sheep and goats. In all of them one can go 
camping without charge, and in most of them are good 
roads and trails and comfortable hotels. In the Sequoia 
(se-kwoi'a) Park of central CaUfornia, there are twelve 
thousand trees over ten feet in diameter, and in the same 
region is the Yosemite (yo-sem'i-te) Valley, with three 
groves of big trees and waterfalls of extraordinary height. 
General Grant Park near by has a tree thirty-five feet in 
thickness, which has been named General Grant. In 
Wind Cave Park, South Dakota, there are miles of galleries 
and chambers containing peculiar formations, and in Piatt 
Park, in southern Oklahoma, are sulphur and other springs 
of medicinal value. We have a park off the coast of 
Maine, on Mt. Desert Island, named in honor of General 
Lafayette, and in south central Alaska is Mt. McKinley 
Park, named after President McKinley. In northern Cali- 
fornia the Lassen Volcano National Park has the only 
active volcano in the United States proper; and in the 
Hawaiian Islands are the two great active volcanoes of 




Camps and lakes in Glacier Park. 



.330 



THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 331 

Kilauea (ke-lou-a'a) and Mauna Loa (mou^na lo'a) which 
have been set aside for the use of the public. Glacier 
Park in Montana has two hundred and fifty lakes fed by 
glaciers, and precipices hundreds of feet high. All of our 
national parks are under the supervision of the Secretary 
of the Interior, and in charge of a director especially 
appointed. 

We wish we could visit all of these wonders, but we 
have only time enough to see a bit of one of them. We 
cross from Colorado into Wyoming, and travel to its north- 
western comer and enter the Yellowstone Park. 



XLVII. A VISIT TO THE YELLOWSTONE 
NATIONAL PARK 

YOU must not think the Yellowstone a small place be- 
cause it is called a park. It is almost as large as Con- 
necticut, and larger than some of the smaller kingdoms of 
Europe. The surface is a rolling plateau, parts of which 
are covered with woods, while in other places there are 
mountains and deep yawning canyons. The lowest point 
in the park is more than a mile above the sea, and near it 
are mountains more than two miles in height. 

The Yellowstone has five hundred hot springs that are 
always boiling, and many of them spout water high into 
the air. As the water cools it leaves a sediment, which 
builds up structures of all the colors of the rainbow. One 
hot spring has thus formed a white hill about it more 
than two hundred feet high. The water flows out of the 
top of the hill and falls into one semicircular basin after 



3,32 NORTH AMERICA 

another built up by the sediment. Some of the basins are 
only a few inches deep, while others have a depth of six or 
eight feet. The mineral matter has painted the sides of 
the basins in all shades of blue, yellow, scarlet, and green. 
It has frescoed some portions with lace work and em- 
broidered them with what seem to be beads. At the top 
the water is boiling hot. It cools as it falls from basin to 
basin, so that starting in at the bottom one could have 
baths of all temperatures by merely walking to the top. 

What would you think of a spring flowing with mineral 
paint? There is one in Yellowstone Park that covers 
more than an acre. The paint is of many colors, and it 
bubbles like hot mush on the fire. Another fountain is 
always vomiting forth green, slimy mud mixed with sul- 
phur, the smell of which is so sickening that we put our 
handkerchiefs to our noses as we go by. 

The spouting springs are called geysers. Some of them 
spout every year or so, and others every few minutes. The 
Grand Geyser throws up a volume of steam and boiling 
water to a height of three hundred feet, and "Old Faith- 
ful" sends up every hour an immense volume of steam 
and boiling water as high as a church steeple. It keeps 
spouting for several minutes at a time, the water falling 
back in clouds of spray. 

Another wonder is the Yellowstone Canyon. The waters 
of the river here have a fall of three hundred feet, or al- 
most twice the height of Niagara Falls. They then flow 
through a gorge whose walls are a third of a mile high, and 
the rocks composing them are of such colors that they 
look like precious stones. There are rocks as white as 
crystal, others that shine like amethysts, and still others 
that glitter like diamonds as the sun strikes them. Half- 
way down the walls of the canyon are ledges where eagles 




Giant Geyser in eruption, Yellowstone Park. It throws a column of 
water and steam several hundred feet into the air. 



333 



334 NORTH AMERICA 

have built their nests, and if we look carefully we may 
perhaps see the young eagles in them. 

There are other features of Yellowstone Park which 
we fear to mention lest our friends at home may think 
of us as some men did of a preacher who described his 
visit to the park. His congregation listened quietly until 
he told them how he had stood upon a rock beside Yellow- 
stone Lake and caught a fish, and then, without moving 
from his place, had given his fishing rod a twist and thrown 
the fish still hanging to the hook into a boiling spring 
behind him and cooked it. As he told this, one of the 
deacons arose and asked the pastor to stop then and there, 
saying, ''We have listened to-night to bigger stories than 
we have ever heard before in our lives, but that last one is 
too much — too much ! " 

The story, however, might have been true. The waters of 
Yellowstone Lake are cold and filled with fine fish. Upon 
its eastern shore near the edge of the lake is a boiling 
spring, called the Fish Pot, and one might stand there 
and catch a fish and easily cook it as the parson described. 



1. Locate the Western Highland. What mountains bound it on 
the east and west? How far does it extend north and south? What 
and where is its highest mountain? Compare this mountain with 
some other great mountains of the world. (See page 495.) 

2. What are the Great Plains? Why are the lands green along 
the foothills of the Rockies? 

3. Where are the Rocky Mountains? The Sierra Nevada? Pikes 
Peak? Compare Pikes Peak with the other high mountains of the 
United States. 

4. How many great national parks have we? Name some of 
them and tell for what each is noted. Take a trip through the 
Colorado Canyon and tell what you see. How was the Canyon 
formed? 

5. Who were the cliff dwellers and how did they live? 



A TRIP THROUGH A GOLD MINE 335 

6. Where is Yosemite Park? Yellowstone Park? Make a visit 
to the Yellowstone and describe its chief features. 

7. What is a geyser? A volcano? Have we active volcanoes 
in our dominions? Where? Describe Kilauea. (See Carpenter's 
''Australia and Islands of the Sea.") 

8. Name some kinds of game found in the parks. 



XLVIII. A TRIP THROUGH A GOLD MINE 

FROM Alaska southward to the Isthmus of Panama, 
the mountains of the Great Western Highland have 
many veins and beds of gold, silver, and copper. In the 
Sierra Nevada range are immense bodies of white quartz 
vdth little veins of gold running through them. There is 
gold in the sand of many of the rivers, and it is found in 
the gravel beds high above the streams, where the water 
flowed ages ago. Such gold is called placer gold. It usu- 
ally lies near the bed rock, the heavy metal having sunk 
to the bottom of the sand and gravel as the water flowed 
through. Gold mixed with the rock in veins is known 
as quartz gold. It occurs in a free state, but generally 
so finely divided that the rock has to be ground to powder 
and chemically treated to get the gold out. 

The first gold of the United States came from the 
Appalachian Mountains. A little gold has been found in 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carohna, Georgia, and 
Alabama, but our richest gold fields are upon this West- 
ern Highland. We have many gold fields in Alaska, 
which we shall see when we visit that territory, and there 
are others in the Rockies, and in the Sierra Nevada and 
Cascade ranges of our western states. 

Up to 1920 the United States had produced four billion 



336 NORTH AMERICA 

dollars worth of gold, and most of this was from these 
western states. It was in 1846 that James Marshall, 
while digging a race for a sawmill along the banks of the 
American River in California, found some bits of yellow 
metal which turned out to be gold. The news spread, and 
soon thousands of miners were washing the dirt along the 
banks of that and other California rivers. In less than a 
year they had dug up more than five million dollars' 
worth of gold, and within four years more than two hun- 
dred million dollars' worth had been washed out of the 
streams of the Sierra Nevada. The news went out and 
men from all parts of the world rushed to California. 

Then gold was found in the mountains to the eastward, 
and mining camps sprang up everywhere. At first the 
miners washed out the gold-bearing earth in pans. Then 
they used cradles, or troughs which could be rocked back 
and forth, and later they conducted . the streams down 
the mountains to the mines and by hose threw the water 
against the sides of the hills to wash down the gold-bearing 
gravels. Huge dredges were invented for mining the placers 
by the aid of steam engines. They also built flumes, or 
troughs, into which they turned the streams, and threw in 
the gravel. Sticks were nailed across the beds of the 
troughs, and quicksilver placed there. The water washed 
away the mud, and the grains and dust of gold fell to the 
bottom. Quicksilver dissolves gold as water does sugar or 
salt. By and by all the gold went into the quicksilver, 
which was heated and evaporated, leaving the gold behind. 

A little later the miners began to hunt for the beds of 
rock like those from which nature had washed this gravel 
and placer gold, and to crush the rock to get out the metal. 
Such mining is called quartz mining. It is from quartz 
mining that most of our gold now comes. 



A TRIP THROUGH A GOLD MINE 



?>?>7 



But suppose we visit a quartz mine, and see how the 
precious ore is taken out of the rock. We select one not 
far from Pikes Peak. It is high up in the mountains, and 
as we ride up to it on our donkeys, we wonder how men 



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Gold mine near Cripple Creek, Colorado. The mining here is all done 
underground; the ore is brought to the surface and sent to a mill. 

could tell that there was any gold there. On the way 
we see hundreds of holes dug by prospectors who failed to 
find gold, and are told that men often search in vain for 
years to make new gold discoveries. The prospector often 
travels on foot with his shovel and pick, his gun, and his 
cooking utensils, provisions, and blankets loaded upon 
a horse, or perhaps upon a burro not larger than a Shetland 
pony. He sleeps in the open air and shoots game to help 
out his food supply. As he travels he looks carefully at 
the rocks, and now and then washes the gravel of the 
streams to see if he can find "color" — gold dust or grains. 



338 NORTH AMERICA 

If he does he follows the signs until he reaches the mother 
lode or rock from which it was washed away. 

At last we come to our mine. The large wooden 
building above it contains the steam engine and hoisting 
machinery to lift out the cars of ore. This building is 
known as the shaft house. It is right over the entrance 
to the mine, and the hole which goes down into the mine 
is the shaft. This shaft is about eight feet square, and as 
deep as the Washington Monument is high. Elevators are 
always moving up and down it bringing out the rock, and 
we can step on one and go down. The shaft is sunk be- 
side the vein of gold-bearing rock, and from it tunnels are 
run off into the vein to get at the ore. Each tunnel has 
a little railroad with steel cars, each of which will hold 
one or two tons of rock. When a car is filled and brought 
to the elevator, a signal to the engineer sends it to the 
top. 

A car has just been taken off as we reach the shaft house, 
and we start down into the mine. Within a few seconds 
we are far below the surface. The darkness of the shaft is 
so dense we can feel it, and we huddle together in fear. 
We drop sixty feet before we reach the first level. Here 
we see a score of dirty miners, each with a candle on his 
cap. The light makes them ghostlike against the dark- 
ness of the tunnel behind. They have a carload of ore 
which they are waiting to send to the top. 

We now drop to a second level, sixty-live feet farther 
down, and then to another and another, and at last, at 
the fifth tunnel, three hundred and eighty-five feet below 
the surface, we get out and start into the mine. The men 
lend us their candles, and as we walk along the manager 
points out the vein containing the gold. It looks like slate, 
and seems to be a sandwich of slate between walls of other 



A TRIP THROUGH A GOLD MINE 339 

rock running slantwise into the earth. How deep it goes 
no one can tell. 

As we go on through the tunnel we see the miners at 
work. Here one is drilling a hole for a blast. He uses 
compressed air, and his steel drill goes chug, chug, chug, 
as it crushes a hole into the rock. Now he lays aside his 
tools, and takes up what looks like a big tallow candle, 
and sticks it into the hole. Notice how delicately he handles 
that candle. It is well he does, for it is dynamite, and 
should it go off it would blow us to pieces. Sometimes 
gunpowder is used. Now the man is connecting a fuse 
with the dynamite. He inserts the fuse and packs the 
earth tightly about it. The manager tells him to light 
the fuse to show us how the blasting is done. At the same 
time he advises us to run. We do so, and are in a side 
tunnel when the terrible explosion occurs. The very earth 
shakes and the air blows out. our candles, although we 
are hundreds of feet away from the blast. We hear the 
rock fall, and returning find the miners digging it out 
with picks and throwing it into a hole in the bottom of 
the tunnel, down which the ore rolls into the cars in the 
tunnel below. 

We look at the rock but can see no signs of gold. It 
seems just like the stone we see on the roadway or in an 
ordinary quarry. Still, each ton of it contains from ten 
to several hundred dollars' worth of pure gold. Some of 
the ore is so valuable that a half bushel sack of it would 
be worth ten thousand dollars. 

Different kinds of ore need different treatments to ex- 
tract the gold. The free gold can be crushed and washed 
out or it can be saved with quicksilver. Some ores are 
treated by chemicals in various ways, and much of the 
low-grade ore, which contains only small quantities of 

CARP. N. AMER. — 21 



340 



NORTH AMERICA 



gold, is sent to cyanide mills. There the ore is soaked in a 
solution of water and cyanide of potassium, a chemical 
that looks much like alum. 

We jump on the cars and ride to the shaft, from which 
we follow a carload of rock to one of these mills. The rock 
averages only one half ounce of gold to the ton, and this 
half ounce is distributed almost evenly throughout the 
carload. The ore of this carload is low grade and only 
one atom in many, many thousand atoms of rock is pure 
gold. The question is how to get the gold out. 

We see the ore thrown into the crushers, whose huge 
rollers grind it to pieces. It grows finer and liner, until it 
is all dust and bits of rock no bigger than a pea. It is now 
ready for the drier, in which gas flames are blown through 
the ore to take out the moisture. The ore is then again 
crushed and ground until it becomes a dust almost as fine 
as the flour used for baking. We pick up the flour dust 
and rub it to and fro in our hands. It does not scratch 
the skin, and we look in vain for some gleam of gold. There 
is none. Were it the dust on a roadway we should walk 
over it without thinking, yet every grain contains a minute 
portion of gold. 

The ore is now ready for the cyanide bath. We see 
the dust put into a circular steel tank as high as one's 
waist, and wider than an ordinary schoolroom. When the 
tank is more than half full, the cyanide water pours in. It 
comes out of pipes, and looks like drinking water when it 
flows from the spigot. We are told not to taste it, however, 
for it is a deadly poison. As the cyanide water flows through 
the dust it becomes a great pot of brown mush, seasoned 
with gold. The cyanide dissolves the gold in the rock and 
it passes into the fluid, which is then drawn off through a 
hole in the bottom of the tank. 



A DAY IN A SILVER MINE 341 

Another chemical process is now necessary to get the 
gold out of the cyanide bath. The fluid passes through 
boxes filled with zinc shavings; here it takes up part of the 
zinc and drops the gold. The remaining mixture of zinc 
and gold is then heated in a furnace in such a way that the 
zinc passes off and the gold only is left. The result is a 
brick of bright gold purer than that of a gold wedding ring. 
It is now bullion and ready for use in the arts or for coinage 
at the mint. 



XLIX. A DAY IN A SILVER MINE 

YESTERDAY we spent the day far down in the depths 
of the earth, surrounded by gold. To-day we shall 
again go below the surface, this time to see silver mined. 
About three fourths of all the silver of the world comes 
from North America, and one third of all from the United 
States. We are now mining silver in twenty-one states, 
most of which are on this Western Highland. The best 
producers are Montana, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, 
Arizona, and California. 

Silver is never mined in placers. It is usually found 
in combination with other minerals, and much of our 
product comes from mines which produce also copper or 
lead. The Comstock Lode of Nevada has yielded silver 
and gold worth several hundred million dollars. In the 
Coeur d'Alene (kur-da-lanO mines of Idaho the silver is 
mixed with lead, and about the city of Butte (but) in 
Montana it lies in ores loaded with copper. 

The mine we shall visit to-day is situated in the moun- 
tains of Utah. Its ore contains both silver and gold, and 
it has already produced about forty million dollars ' worth 



342 NORTH AMERICA 

of silver. Connected with the mine are enormous mills 
for getting the metals out of the rock. 

We enter the mine by a shaft like that in the gold mine 
we visited, and we walk through tunnel after tunnel, with 
great stopes or rooms on each side. The mine has been 
worked many years, and at twenty different levels. At 
the lowest tunnel where we go through, we are hundreds 
of feet below ground. Indeed, a good idea of the mine 
might be had from a big apartment house building, each 
mine level being considered a floor. The shaft is the ele- 
vator of the apartment house, and the tunnels which run 
off into the vein are the halls. The stopes from which the 
ore has been taken are the rooms and the elevator raises 
and lowers the miners and rock from story to story. This 
great mine apartment is lighted by electricity, and its 
machinery is moved by electricity generated by the falls 
of a river near by. 

The methods of blasting down the silver rock and ex- 
tracting the ore are about the same as those in the gold 
mine, but there is an important difference in the two mines, 
which has nothing to do with the ore. Our gold mine was 
dry and this mine is wet. All kinds of metals are found in 
wet and dry mines, but the working of a wet mine is much 
more difficult . 

In the region where we are now there are underground 
waters which force themselves into the workings, so that 
huge pumps are installed, and steam and electricity are 
kept busy day and night in carrying the water away. As 
we go through the tunnels the water drips from the roof, 
and as we look down we see that the floor of the tunnel 
has a torrent beneath it. The water is rushing along under 
the boards at the rate of ten thousand gallons a minute, 
and the walls and roof of the tunnel are braced by timbers 



A DAY IN A SILVER MINE 



343 



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Drilling in a silver mine. The men are making holes in the 
rock in which to put dynamite blasts. The drill is run by com- 
pressed air. 



to hold back the wet earth. The timbering of a mine is 
expensive. The best of wood is required, and that used 
here comes from the forests of Oregon, hundreds of miles 
away. 

As we go on through the mine we stop at a place where 
the blasts have just thrown out huge masses of silver- 



344 NORTH AMERICA 

bearing ore and ask the miners to show us the vein. It 
has an average width of fifteen feet, and in some places it is 
forty feet wide. Running through it are the dark streaks 
of rock containing the silver. Some of these streaks are 
so wide that we can hardly reach across them. The silver 
is so mixed with the rock that it does not shine out. To 
our eyes the ore seems nothing but stone. The only sign 
of any metal whatever is a bright glint of gold here and 
there. 

We watch the miners loading the ore on the cars, and 
then follow it to the surface. We see the cars carried 
from the shaft to the top of a building and the rock dropped 
into a crusher, where it is broken into bits no larger than 
pebbles. The ore is now ready for the drier, which is much 
like that in which we saw the gold rock roasted for the 
cyanide mills. The pebbles are next pounded to flour 
with heavy steel stamps, and the flour is mixed with salt 
and roasted again to prepare it for a bath of quicksilver, 
which, as we shall see later on, will take out the silver. 

As we leave the drying room we see several piles of what 
seems to be fine sand lying on the floor near the furnace, 
and are tempted to jump into them. The manager pulls 
us back quickly and tells one of the workmen to stir up a 
pile with a shovel. He does so, and we see that only the 
outside is yellow. Under the thin yellow coating the 
roasted rock is red hot. Had we jumped in, our legs would 
have been burned to a crisp. 

The process by which the quicksilver takes the silver 
out of the dust reminds one of the prince, who, as the 
fairy tale goes, broke through the hedge and kissed into 
life the beautiful princess who had been sleeping there one 
hundred years. It is the quicksilver prince whose kisses 
take the sleeping silver ore maiden out of her palace of 



A DAY IN A SILVER MINE 345 

rock, in which she has been locked up for ages. The ore 
dust containing the silver having cooled, it is thrown into 
great vats of steel and enough water is turned in to make 
the whole a mass of brown mush. A few pounds of quick- 
silver is then poured into this mass through a pipe, and the 
stirring machinery set at work to mix the quicksilver into 
the ore. As the mass is stirred the quicksilver divides 
into drops about as big as the point of a pin, and these 
thousands of Little drops move through the sand seeking 
out the particles of silver. The silver unites with them 
and after a time all of it has been taken out of the 
ore. 

The stirring is now stopped, and the heavy quicksilver 
runs down through the ore and out through a pipe into a 
bucket. It is now put into a very hot furnace, where the 
quicksilver is driven out of the mixture in the form of a 
vapor which flows off into a pipe, leaving the silver alone 
in the furnace. The quicksilver vapor is condensed by 
passing cool water over the pipe, and, thus turned into a 
liquid once more, it can be used over again. 

The silver which now lies in the bottom of the furnace 
looks like a piece of old plank covered with ashes. It is 
impure silver bullion, and is ready to be shipped to re- 
fineries in other parts of the country. There, by means 
of chemicals and heat, it is further purified and fitted 
for manufactures of various kinds, or it may go to the 
mint and become silver dimes, quarters, half dollars, or 
dollars. 

There are other methods of getting the silver out of the 
ore, and in some cyanide is used as we saw it in the mining 
of gold. In one process the silver ore is put into a bath of 
molten lead in a furnace. In another the silver is taken 
out by means of zinc and lead, the whole being melted and 



346 NORTH AMERICA 

refined in such a way that the pure silver is saved. A 
different process is sometimes used when the ore has silver 
in combination with copper, and in some cases electricity 
is employed to separate the gold, silver, and copper. 



>>•«< 



L. A MOUNTAIN OF COPPER 

IS it not wonderful that this dry, thirsty region should 
have such great treasures locked up in its rocks? At 
first glance most of the country seems absolutely worth- 
less, but here and there are places so rich in minerals that 
the land is almost as valuable as that in lower Broadway, 
New York. This is the fact near Butte, Montana, near 
Bisbee, Arizona, and in Bingham Canyon, in the high 
mountains not far from Salt Lake in Utah. These places 
have some of the richest copper mines of the world. 

We shall first visit Butte, which is almost as far above 
the sea-level as the top of Mt. Washington. On the slopes 
of the mountains about it are great copper smelting fur- 
naces that day and night for years poured out fumes mixed 
with sulphur, which destroyed the vegetation. The grass 
could not grow, the flowers did not blossom, and the green 
leaves dropped from the trees. The country is dreary 
to-day, but it looks much better since the sulphur in the 
fumes has been saved by new processes of ore reduction. 

In the midst of these surroundings we find a large city 
supported by the metals that are being taken out of the 
rocks. The chief of these is copper, the ore of which has 
to go through these furnaces in order that the metals may 
be saved. 

We are surprised at the size of the reduction works. 



A MOUNTAIN OF COPPER 347 

Some of the chimneys are one third as high as the Wash- 
ington Monument, and connected with them are flues so 
large that a wagonload of hay could be driven through 
one without touching its walls. The flues supply the 
drafts for the furnaces. Inside the works are huge boilers, 
and engines with flywheels as high as a three-story house. 
The power produced is conducted by cables from place to 
place along the side of the mountain. 

Entering the works, we are deafened by the noise of the 
stamps as they fall upon the ore and crush it to powder. 
This becomes a mush which is run over tables and washed 
and rewashed. It passes through grinding machines, and 
then goes to the smelter. Here it is roasted, filhng the air 
so full of sulphur that as we come near we feel as though 
hundreds of matches were being burned under our noses. 
The metal is extracted from the roasted ore by a process 
similar to that by which iron is smelted in a blast furnace. 

The metal is still impure and is refined by chemical and 
electrical processes, the gold, silver, and other metals 
being separated. The final product Is pure copper such as 
is used for making the wire which carries the current 
through our telephone and telegraph lines. 

Indeed, the uses of this red metal are so many and so 
important that it is of more value to man than either 
silver or gold. Some copper is used in every steamer and 
railroad car, and in every automobile and airplane. It 
forms the best medium for the electric current, and millions 
of pounds of it are drawn out into telegraph and telephone 
wires, and the cables for electric lighting and power trans- 
mission. The core of the cables that run under the oceans 
from our continent to other parts of the world is of copper. 

We use millions of pounds of copper a year in making 
the pins that fasten our clothes, and we have a factory in 




348 



A MOUNTAIN OF COPPER 349 

Connecticut that consumes a thousand pounds in one 
hour for the eyelets of shoes. Slightly alloyed it is used 
for making copper cents, and mixed with zinc it forms 
brass. Copper is employed largely in scientific instru- 
ments and in making munitions. During the World War 
the Germans could get but little copper and they had to 
melt up their copper kitchen utensils, the brass doorknobs 
of their houses, and even the bells of their churches to 
supply the needs of the war. 

Of this valuable metal more than half of all that is mined 
in the world comes from the United States, and most of 
this is from the Great Western Highland. Here at Butte 
the copper veins run below the surface to the depth of 
three fifths of a mile, and at Bingham in Utah there is 
enough ore in sight to supply seven million tons a year 
for almost half a century. The Bingham mines are in 
what seems to be a mountain of copper ore. They run in 
terraces around the mountains, and the ore is such that it 
can be taken out with steam shovels. We have other 
great copper deposits in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, 
in Michigan along Lake Superior, and in some of our 
southern states. 

We have immense beds of copper in Alaska, including 
those of the Kennecott Mines, which lie high above several 
great glaciers. The Kennecott copper was discovered by 
two mining prospectors, who saw a patch of green high up 
in the mountains. At first they thought that it was grass, 
and that there might be mountain sheep feeding upon it. 
They climbed up to hunt, and lo! it was copper which 
had been turned green by the weather. 

I. In what two regions of the United States is gold found? Where 
are our richest gold fields? Tell the story of the discovery of gold 
in California. 



350 



NORTH AMERICA 



2. Give some of the uses of gold. What is gold bullion? How 
is it made into coins? (See page 6q.) 

3. What is placer mining? Make a visit to a placer mine and 
tell what you see. How is quicksilver used in such mining? 

4. What is quartz mining? Describe a quartz mine. Follow the 
ore to the smelter and show how the gold is taken out by cyanide. 

5. From what part of the world does most of the gold come? 
Compare our product with that of Africa? With Australasia. (See 
page 499.) 

6. From what region does most of our silver come? How does our 
production of silver compare with that of the rest of the world? 
Name the chief silver-producing countries. (See page 499.) 

7. With what other minerals is silver often combined? 

8. Visit a silver mine and tell how the ore is taken out of the rock. 
Describe the process of saving the metal by quicksilver, 

9. Name some of the uses of silver. Describe the adventures of 
a silver spoon from the mine to your breakfast table. Let the spoon 
tell its story. 

10. Name some of the uses of copper. What part did it play 
in the World War? What coins are made of it? Why is it used for 
telephone and telegraph wires? 

11. From what regions does most of our copper come? Most of 
the copper of the world? (See page 500). 

12. What is brass? (For further information about copper and 
brass, see Carpenter's "How the World is Housed," pages 182- 
188.) 

13. Which is of most value to man; copper, silver, or gold? Why? 



LI. ACROSS THE WESTERN PLATEAU 

THERE are several trunk lines of railway that cross 
the United States from the Mississippi valley to the 
Pacific Ocean. From Chicago we might have gone to St. 
Paul and traveled westward over the Great Northern or 
the Northern Pacific to Seattle on Puget Sound. Or we 
could have gone to New Orleans, and taken the Southern 



ACROSS THE WESTERN PLATEAU 351 

Pacific, crossing Texas, touching the Mexican boundary 
at El Paso, and going on through the desert regions of 
New Mexico and Arizona to southern Cahfornia. Or we 
could have gone by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe 
from Kansas City through Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, 
and Arizona, following a route farther north than the 
Southern Pacific. 

Among the other important railways over the Western 
Highland are the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, the 
cars of which are operated largely by electricity, the Union 
Pacific, and the Denver and Rio Grande and Western 
Pacific. Our trip from Omaha to Denver was on the 
Union Pacific. This road, with the Central Pacific, was 
the first to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and 
when it was completed in 1869 it was considered the 
greatest feat ever attempted in railway construction. Be- 
fore that the only means of crossing the Western High- 
land was on horseback or in wagons drawn by horses or 
mules. The journey took months, and men and horses 
often died of hunger and thirst before they reached their 
destinations. 

Returning from Butte to Denver, we shall continue 
our travels on to Salt Lake City over the Denver and 
Rio Grande railway, which passes through some of the most 
wonderful scenery in the United States. We travel south- 
ward along the foothills of the Rockies until we reach 
Pueblo (pweb'lo), where we turn to the west. Our train 
plunges through the Royal Gorge, where the walls of rock 
rise above us for more than two thousand feet, and then 
ascends rapidly in the cHmb over the Rocky Mountains. 
Now the railroad winds about in great loops and curves; 
now it passes through canyons where the cliffs seem about 
to fall down upon us, and, chmbing always upward, it soon 



352 



NORTH AMERICA 




Our train passes through Eagle Canyon in Colorado. 



reaches Marshall Pass, almost eleven thousand feet above 
sea level. 

Here everything is dry, rocky, and thirsty, and the air 
is so clear that we can see for miles. It is hard to breathe, 
and some of us feel faint from the rarity of the atmosphere. 
We ride for hours without being out of sight of snow-clad 
peaks, and are told that in winter the snow falls in such 
quantities that the drifts cover the railroad and snow- 
plows have to be pushed along by locomotives to clear 
the tracks. For this reason miles of snowsheds have been 
built over the road along the sides of the mountains to 



ACROSS THE WESTERN PLATEx\U 353 

keep the snow from stopping the cars. As we go through 
these sheds we seem to be passing through a long tunnel, 
except that we now and then can peep out through the 
cracks and see thousands of feet down into the valleys 
below. 

The mountainous parts of the route are thinly populated. 
Many of the stations are little more than section houses, 
and some consist only of a post on which is painted the 
name. From such stations trails lead off into the mining 
districts, and we sometimes see long lines of burros, loaded 
with powder, food, and other supplies, on their way to the 
gold and silver camps far back in the mountains. 

As we travel westward into Utah we see herds of cattle 
and flocks of sheep grazing on the plateau. Utah has over 
two million sheep, and some other states have more than 
Utah; namely, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, California, 
New Mexico, and Texas. The herders live in covered 
wagons from one year's end to another. They are aided 
by their dogs in driving the sheep from place to place to 
search out the best feeding grounds. As we see the wagons 
standing out on the plains with nothing but the bare rocks, 
dusty grass, and blue sky about them, it seems to us that 
a herder's life must be lonesome, and we are not sur- 
prised that one sometimes goes crazy from thus living all 
alone in these dreary surroundings. 

At times we pass prairie-dog villages, little hills or mounds 
each of which has a hole leading down into the nest where 
these tiny animals live with their young. Prairie dogs are 
not real dogs, but small rodents about the size of rabbits. 
We see some of them sitting on their hind legs on the tops 
of their mounds and watching the cars as we go by. Others 
are frightened and scamper into their holes. Such prairie- 
dog colonies are scattered over the Western Highland 




354 



SALT LAKE CITY 355 

from Canada to Mexico. They vary in size from a few 
acres to thousands of square miles, and are inhabited by 
thousands of animals. In Texas there is one colony longer 
than from New York to Boston and wider than from 
Philadelphia to Baltimore. It covers an area half as large 
as the state of New York, and is said to have more prairie 
dogs than there are people in the whole United States. 
This statement is based upon figures given by Dr. C. 
Hart Merriam of our Department of Agriculture. Dr. 
Merriam says that thirty-two prairie dogs eat as miuch 
grass as one sheep, and that the grass eaten by the great 
Texas colony would support more than one million cattle. 
For this reason the farmers are advised to destroy these 
little animals. 

We look in vain for grizzly bear, deer, and mountain 
sheep as we ride through the wilder parts of the plateau. 
Such animals are seldom seen near the track, although a 
short horseback ride from almost any of the stations 
would bring us to places where they could be found. 

The country grows more dreary as we travel on west- 
ward, when all at once we come out of the desert into the 
valley of the Great Salt Lake, made green by irrigation, 
and soon reach Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah. 



»€<c 



LIL SALT LAKE CITY 

THERE are few towns more beautifully situated than 
Salt Lake City. It lies between the shore of the 
Great Salt Lake and the precipitous wall of the Wasatch 
Mountains, the peaks of which are crowned with per- 
petual snow. Northward and southward as far as one 

CARP. N. AMER. — 22 




w fji: LA-. 



356 



SALT LAKE CITY 



357 



can see is a valley covered with grain and sugar-beet 
fields, meadows, orchards, vineyards, and gardens. The 
city itself has wide streets shaded by great forest trees. 
Its houses have beautiful lawns, and along the sides of 
some streets flow streams of mountain water. 

Salt Lake City is the most important railway and com- 
mercial center of our Western Highland. It is in the 
heart of the Great Basin, and is the distributing point 
for a rich mining, stock-raising, and farming country. 
Near by are some large mines, smelters, and metal re- 
fineries. The power for its factories and for the electric 
light and street railway plants is developed from the 
waterfalls in the mountains not far away. 

Much of Salt Lake City and the lands about it belong 
to the Mormons, whose ancestors came here many years 
before the railroads were built. They called themselves 
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was 
in 1847 "that one of their prophets, Brigham Young, led 
them across the plains and over the mountains to this 
spot, which he said was "the Promised Land." They 
laid out the city in squares of ten acres each, and planned 
the streets and parks much as they are to-day. 

At that time the whole country about the Great Salt 
Lake was a desert, but the Mormons turned the mountain 
streams, which ran through the valley, out over the land 
and thus changed the desert into prosperous farms. As 
we travel onward we shall learn that much of the desert 
can be irrigated in this way and that if its soil can only 
have water it makes the very best farming land. A large 
part of our sugar-beet crop is produced on irrigated lands, 
and this crop suppUes much of our sugar. 

During our stay in Salt Lake City we see the Mormon 
Temple, an enormous structure of gray granite, which 



358 NORTH AMERICA 

was about forty years in building and into which no " Gen- 
tile" (non-Mormon) is ever admitted. We also visit the 
tabernacle, in which the Mormons worship on Sunday. 
It seats eight thousand persons, and has at times held as 
many as twelve thousand. The building has a roof like 
the back of a turtle and it looks like an enormous bath- 
tub turned upside down. 

Taking automobiles, we ride out through the valley 
to the Great Salt Lake. This lake is one of the natural 
wonders of the United States. It is eighty miles long and 
its average width is about thirty miles. Streams of fresh 
water are always flowing into it, but it has no outlet, and 
therefore its waters are salt. They are six times as salty 
as the ocean, and are said to contain six million tons of 
salts of one kind or another. The lake is much like the 
Dead Sea in Palestine. 

The waters are so heavy with salt that when we take a 
swim in the lake we find we cannot possibly sink. We 
can stand upright in the water, with our heads and 
shoulders above the surface, and bob up and down like a 
cork on a fishing line, but try as we may we cannot force 
ourselves to the bottom. As we stand there with our 
arms folded gently floating about, we need not be afraid 
of the crabs biting our toes. One might fish here for years 
and not get a bite; for the only permanent animal inhabi- 
tants are brine shrimps about as long as the nail of a child 's 
finger. There are some birds on the lake, and we see gulls 
and pelicans flying back and forth to their nesting grounds 
on some of the islands. 

The salts in the Great Salt Lake are not of great value, 
although they can be cheaply harvested by running them 
into ponds where the water is evaporated by the rays of 
the sun. The lake is so far away from our centers of popu- 



IN UNCLE SAM'S OASES 359 

lation that transportation is costly and we can get salt 
more cheaply from other sources. The lake is very shal- 
low, and the Southern Pacific railway has recently built 
a track across the middle of it, cutting off the original 
long detour around its northern end (picture on page 19). 

1. Take a trip over each of the important trunk lines of the West- 
ern Highland, telling something of what you see on the way. Which 
route is farthest north? Which farthest south? What is the great 
middle trunk line? Which is operated largely by electricity? 

2. What domestic animals are found on the Western Highland? 
What wild animals? Tell what you can about the prairie-dog villages. 

3. What is the most important city of our western plateau? Where 
is it located, and why has it become such a great commercial and 
mineral center? 

4. Who were the Mormons? 

5. Describe your visit to the Great Salt Lake. Compare it with 
the Dead Sea. (See Carpenter's "Asia.") 



3>»:c 



LIII. IN UNCLE SAM'S OASES 

WE shall take airplanes for our travels this week. 
The places we wish to visit are so far apart that it 
would take a month or more to see them all if we traveled 
by train. They are the reclamation works of the United 
States government, created to irrigate parts of our great 
desert region and turn them into oases containing thousands 
of farms. 

The semi-arid region of the United States is mostly 
in the Great Plains, and the real desert is in the Western 
Highland where we are traveling. In most of these places 
the land is fertile if it can only have water. The soil is 
rich in plant food, and when artificially watered it produces 



36o NORTH AMERICA 

more abundantly than any part of our country which is 
watered by rain. 

About the beginning of this century our scientists showed 
that dams could be built so that the heavy rains and snows 
of the mountains could be stored in lakes and reservoirs 
to be let out as needed. The matter was laid before Con- 
gress, and in 1902 a law was enacted which provided that 
the money received from the sale of government lands 
in the arid and semi-arid states should be used to put 
water upon the dry lands. After that the watered lands 
were to be sold and the money so received was to be used 
to reclaim other tracts. 

There were so many public lands in the arid and semi- 
arid states, and the sales of the redeemed lands were so 
great, that before 1920 more than one hundred and thirty 
million dollars had been spent in such reclamation. At 
that time the government had created oases larger than all 
the cultivated farms of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecti- 
cut, Rhode Island, and Delaware. Farmers have settled 
upon these oases, and the crops they are now raising are 
said to be worth one hundred million dollars a year. The 
reclaimed lands lie in all kinds of climate, from the cold 
lands near the Yellowstone Park in Montana to the semi- 
tropical lands of southern Arizona. They produce all sorts 
of crops, from the hardy wheat of the north to the long- 
staple cotton of the far south, and all kinds of fruit from 
apples and pears to oranges and dates. 

In creating these oases some of the largest dams of the 
world have been built, rivers have been turned through the 
mountains by tunnels, and so many canals have been dug 
that if they could be placed end to end they would reach 
three times across the United States from Cape Cod to the 
Golden Gate. 




A date palm. This fruit is extensively grown in Arizona and southern 

California 

361 




36: 



IN UNCLE SAM'S OASES 363 

But our airplanes are waiting here on the shores of the 
Great Salt Lake. We climb in and steer for the south. 
We cross the beautiful valley of the Jordan in Utah, pass 
over the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona, and 
land at the Roosevelt Dam in the Salt River valley. Only 
a few years ago this region was a desert almost as dry as 
the sands of Arabia. Now the valley has four towns, more 
than two hundred thousand acres of farms, and two hun- 
dred and sixty-four miles of canals. The land is covered 
with irrigated fields yielding the finest of raisins, melons, 
apricots, peaches, and dates, and oranges so large and sweet 
that they have been called golden balls of bottled sunshine. 
In the same region hundreds of baby ostriches are hatched 
every year. We visit the ostrich farms and see the huge 
birds sitting on their eggs. We are told that the hen ostrich 
does this work by day and the cock by night. Ostriches 
delight in the hot sun and they grow fat upon the alfalfa 
and other vegetation of the irrigated lands. 

All this has been made possible by the Roosevelt Dam, 
a structure of sandstone which holds back one of the 
largest artificial lakes of our country. The dam extends 
between the rock walls on each side of the Salt River can- 
yon, and is so made that the water can be held in or let 
out as needed. 

Our next trip is far to the north. We pass over great 
irrigation works along the Colorado River, and see how 
hundreds of thousands of acres have been reclaimed in 
other places upon the plateau. We enter Wyoming and 
go north to the Yellowstone. Here near the entrance to 
the national park is the Shoshone (sho-sho'ne) Dam, a 
great wedge of concrete which blocks the entrance to the 
canyon of the Shoshone River. The dam is twice as 
high as Niagara Falls, and the lake which it holds back 



364 NORTH AMERICA 

irrigates more than three thousand farms. Before the 
dam was buih the country about was an uninhabited 
desert. To-day it is a fertile oasis occupied by more than 
seven hundred families in three fast-growing towns. 

Another ride on our plane brings us to the Pathfinder 
Dam. This retains the waters of the North Platte River and 
lets them out as they are needed. The dam is built of 
granite. It is two hundred and twenty-five feet high and 
six hundred feet long on the top. It irrigates more than 
two hundred thousand acres of land. Other notable works 
are the Elephant-Butte Dam, which crosses the Rio Grande 
in New Mexico not far from El Paso, and the Arrow- 
rock Dam near Boise (boi'za), Idaho. The first is three 
hundred and eighteen feet high, and the second has the 
enormous height of three hundred and fifty-four feet, 
being almost one hundred feet higher than the dome of 
the National Capitol at Washington. 

There are in all twenty-six of these great government 
reclamation projects, which when completed will irrigate 
more than four million acres of land. In addition many 
tracts of desert, large and small, have been reclaimed by 
states, by private companies, by the farmers working 
together, and by individuals, so that in all more than four 
times as much land has been irrigated by them as by the 
government projects. We have now over sixteen million 
acres in the United States artificially watered. California 
alone has more than three million acres of such land. In 
every one of our arid and semi-arid states there are thou- 
sands of irrigated farms. The same is true in some states 
of the Mississippi basin. 

Going south into Mexico and north into Canada, we 
shall find many similar regions. Irrigation is largely em- 
ployed in South America and in Europe and Asia. All of 




Sage bush and cactus on a desert before reclamation. 
365 



366 NORTH AMERICA 

Egypt depends upon irrigation for its farms, and a part of 
Australia is irrigated. Indeed many of the human race 
get their Hving from farms on which rain seldom falls. 

The farmers of such regions tell us they would rather 
depend upon irrigation than upon rain. They know they 
will always have enough water, and that they can give 
their crops just the right amount at just the right time. 
Moreover, they say the land produces more than when 
watered by rain. In many parts of the West an irrigated 
patch of ten acres yields as much money as one hundred 
acres in the rich Mississippi valley; and in the orange 
country of southern California or the irrigated apple val- 
leys of Oregon and Washington, a tract of six acres often 
supports a whole family. 

The irrigated farms are usually so small that the whole 
country is more like a village than like the widely separated 
farm homes of our central, southern, or eastern states. 
The farmhouses are near together, each having ten, five, or 
even fewer acres about it; so that the people have to walk 
but a few steps to talk to their neighbors. In some such 
settlements the water is piped to every house and barn, 
and in many as the water falls from the dams it operates 
electric plants that light the homes of the farmers and 
give them power for farm machinery. The boys do not 
have to churn or saw wood, for the water does the work 
for them. Moreover, the little farms are so near one 
another that the children can come together at school 
and for games much more easily than in the regions of 
the large farms. We shall see many such settlements in 
the western parts of our country. 

I. Where are the arid and semi-arid regions of the United States? 
What is the character of much of the land and why does it not pro- 
duce crops? 



THE PACIFIC COAST STATES— CALIFORNIA 367 

2. What is irrigation? Mention some of the great reclamation 
projects undertaken by our government. Make an imaginary visit 
to one and tell what you see. 

3. Would you rather live in an irrigated region or in one watered 
by rain? Why? 

4. Mention a country in Africa where all the farms depend upon 
irrigation. 

LIV. THE PACIFIC COAST STATES — 
CALIFORNIA 

WE have come by airplane from Idaho across the 
northern part of the Western Plateau and have 
traveled southward through the Pacific States to get a 
bird's-eye view of the country. The Pacific States are 
Washington, Oregon, and California. They are enormous 
in size compared with our states along the Atlantic coast. 
Washington is larger than New England, and California 
is larger than the five states between New Jersey and 
Georgia. Oregon is almost equal to Pennsylvania, New 
York, and New Jersey combined. 

Our Atlantic coast line is far different from that of the 
Pacific, It is five hundred miles longer, and from the 
Hudson River to Florida it is backed by a low plain cut up 
by rivers through which the tide flows in from the sea. 
It is only in New England that the land is comparatively 
high. 

The Pacific coast has but few indentations except Puget 
(pu'jet) Sound, the mouth of the Columbia River, and 
San Francisco- Bay. It is bordered by a steep chain of 
mountains, and most of its cultivated territory is in the 
valleys between this Coast Range and the Cascades and 
Sierra Nevada. These valleys are famous for their great 




^v 



110 Ureenwicb 



THE PACIFIC COAST STATES— CALIFORNIA 369 

crops of grain and fruits. In Washington and Oregon 
are apple and prune orchards, and in CaHfornia grow 
oranges, lemons, grapes, prunes, almonds, and olives which 
are shipped to all parts of the United States. 

The mountains near the west coast are far higher than 
those near the east coast. The Sierra Nevada is several 
times as high as the Appalachians, and California has the 
highest peak in the main body of the United States. This is 
Mt. Whitney, which kisses the sky almost a mile and a 
half above the top of Mt. Washington. 

The climate of each region is excellent, but very different 
from that of the other. In the eastern part of our country 
there is an abundant rainfall throughout the year and no. 
irrigation is needed. The coast lands of Washington and 
Oregon have much rain, mostly in the winter, but in parts 
of CaHfornia there is so little rain that the cultivated 
lands have to be irrigated, while in the far south there are 
terrible deserts where the land is so barren that only a 
few animals such as snakes, lizards, and horned toads 
can live. Death Valley is one of these deserts. Part of it 
is two hundred and seventy-six feet below the sea level and 
is the lowest point in the United States. 

We begin our travels in southern Cahfomia. In this 
part of our country it is like summer all the year round. 
Flowers are always in bloom and the trees are always green. 
Los Angeles (los ang'gel-es) often has rose festivals to cele- 
brate New Year, and on Christmas one can go out and take 
a bath in the ocean, come back and have Christmas dinner 
under the orange trees, and, in the afternoon, by a short 
railroad ride, reach the snows on the tops of the moun- 
tains and eat supper under some of the finest Christmas 
trees of the world. 

Our trip makes us think of Christmas, for we are almost 



370 



NORTH AMERICA 



always in sight of some of the things we find in our stockings. 
We travel through irrigated orchards where golden oranges 
and pale yellow lemons hang from the trees, and ride for 
miles through vineyards of the choicest white and blue 
grapes. Here we see English walnuts and almonds, and 
there are groves of olive trees, knotty and gnarly. Califor- 
nia makes the most delicious raisins, exporting enough 
in one year to give a pound to every family in the United 
States. It has thousands of trees on which prune plums 
are grown, and it exports almost two hundred million 
pounds of prunes in one year. Prunes are a species of 
plum. We find them more delicious when just picked 
than when dried in the sun and packed up for sale. We 
shall have plenty of prunes also in Oregon when we go 
there. 

Have you ever tasted figs fresh from trees? They are 
twice as large as when dried and pressed into boxes. They 
are as sweet as honey, and are delicious with cream. The 
fig grows so well in California that single trees often yield 
a thousand pounds in one season. 

During our travels we stop now and then to help the 
children gather walnuts — not black walnuts such as we 
find in the eastern states, but the thin-shelled English 
walnuts which are sold everywhere in our grocery stores. 
The black walnut trees grow wild, but these trees are 
planted and cared for like fruit trees. They begin to 
bear at the end of six years, but do not come into full 
fruiting until long after that. When the nuts are ripe they 
are shaken or knocked down and then gathered to be cured 
and packed for shipping. 

Almond trees are raised in much the same way. The 
almond is much like the peach tree, and its flowers are 
like peach blossoms. The fruit is somewhat similar to 




Orange grove in Southern California. 



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Drying prunes in the sun. 
371 



372 



NORTH AMERICA 



the peach, but the flesh is thin, hard, and leathery; the 
stone is the almond. 

There are more than one million olive trees in CaK- 
fornia. The olive trees are first sprouted from cuttings 
in hothouses and then planted in orchards. They begin 
to bear in seven or eight years, and at ten years a thrifty 
tree should produce five gallons of olives a year, and when 
fully grown many times that. A large part of our pickled 
olives and olive oil come from Cahfornia, although we im- 
port some from Italy and Spain. 

More than two thirds of the orange and lemon orchards 
of the United States are in California, most of the re- 
mainder being in Florida. These trees also are carefully 
cultivated and their fruit is sent on cars and steamers to 
all parts of the world. Many trainloads of oranges start 
eastward in cold storage cars every year over the conti- 
nental trunk lines, and many are shipped to Europe, while 
some go to far-off New Zealand and to Alaska. 

Is this not a wonderful state? Many kinds of vegetation 
thrive better here than in the eastern part of our country. 
California grows some pumpkins which weigh as much 
as a man, and beets as heavy as a good-sized boy. The 
southern part of the state has elderberry bushes with 
trunks a foot thick, and at Pasadena is a celebrated rose 
tree upon which one hundred thousand blossoms may be 
seen at one time. The state raises also quantities of grain 
and its vegetables and fruits are canned and shipped all 
over the world. 

The biggest of all trees are to be found on the western 
slope of the Sierra Nevada. Within a short distance by 
rail from San Francisco is Sequoia National Park, where are 
trees more than three fifths as high as the Washington 
Monument. The "Starr King," for instance, is three 



CALIFORNIA 



373 



hundred and sixty-six feet high, and the *' Mother of the 
Forest" measures three hundred and fifteen feet to its 
topmost branch, while a half-dozen other trees rise three 
hundred feet above ground. The trunks of some are so 
large that a passage big enough for an automobile to pass 
through has been cut out of them. 

These big trees are related to the cedars. They have an 
evergreen foliage much like the conifers of other parts of 
our country, and bear cones of small size. Their bark is 
almost a yard thick. They seldom grow by themselves, 
but among other trees, towering like giants over those 
below. They seem to increase in size as we come near them, 
and at last, when we put our chins against the bark and 
look upward, their tops seem to pierce the sky, and we 
cannot realize that they were once little sprouts pushing 
their way up through the ground. 

But that must have been a long time ago. Yes; these 
trees are said to be the oldest living things upon earth. 
Some of them were growing long before our Savior was 
born. They were more than fifteen hundred years old 
when Columbus discovered the New World, and more 
than sixteen hundred years old when the first trees were 
planted by our forefathers on American soil. The biggest 
of them are in our National Parks, where they will be kept 
as one of the wonders of the United States. 

California has forests of redwood, the trees of which 
are often eighteen feet thick, and of sugar pine, some of 
which are two hundred feet high. The state has enough 
forests to cover New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland, and in its National 
Forest Reserves there are more than eight million acres. 

Another of California's wonders is the Yosemite National 
Park, which includes a valley a mile deep and only a half 



CARP. N. AMER.— 23 



374 NORTH AMERICA 

mile wide. Here are the Yosemite Falls, which leap from 
the heights straight down for a quarter of a mile, and then 
six hundred feet lower in a series of silvery cascades. One 
of the falls is six hundred feet high. It is known as the 
Bridal Veil. When the wind blows, the water turns to a 
spray, making a fleecy white mist, which the sun sometimes 
transforms to a sheet of most gorgeous rainbows. 



LV. LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO 

THE four largest cities of our Pacific states are Los 
Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. All are 
situated on or near the seacoast, at the ends of the railroads 
which cross the continents. They all have excellent harbors, 
so that goods can be shipped to and from them by sea as 
well as by land. From these cities great steamers go out 
almost daily to the Panama Canal, to Japan, China, and 
far-off Australia, as well as to Alaska, Hawaii, and the 
Philippine Islands. They are the western gateways through 
which we pass back and forth between our country and 
Asia and our possessions in the Pacific Ocean. 

We shall begin our travels in Los Angeles. The name 
means "City of the Angels," and the people tell us that 
their climate is heavenly. Los Angeles has neither winter 
nor summer. It is in the semi-tropics , and has only a 
wet and a dry season, but even during the wet season the 
sun is glorious after each rain. The city has more than 
three hundred days of sunshine during the year. 

As we ride through the residence sections we seem to be 
in a botanical garden. The wide streets are shaded with 
tropical trees, including palms of different varieties. There 



LOS ANGELES 



375. 



are also India rubber trees with smooth bark, pepper trees 
with red berries, and orange trees with golden fruit shining 
out of the leaves. There are great hedges of geraniums 
and calla lilies, and in the country about are wild poppies 
as yellow as gold. Immense rosebushes, which blossom 




vc) Brown Bros. 

Boulevard in Los Angeles. Notice the tropical foliage. 

all the year round, are to be seen everywhere. At Pasa- 
dena, not far from Los Angeles, the people have a ''Tourna- 
ment of Roses" each year, with battles in which both the 
bombs and the bullets are flowers. At the same time is 
held a most gorgeous floral parade. 

There are no finer roads anywhere than in southern 
California, and we may motor for miles out of Los Angeles 
in every direction through irrigated vineyards and groves 
of oranges and lemons and of walnuts, almonds, and olives. 



376 NORTH AMERICA 

In many places we see men picking the fruit. We pass 
motor trucks filled with it and see long railway trains 
carrying their cargoes of oranges and lemons to the east. 
There are many fruit-canning factories, and we notice 
great trays of raisins drying in the hot sun. 

Los Angeles is a large and magnificent city. Its popu- 
lation is greater than that of any other city on the Pacific 
coast of America. It has big business buildings and many 
of the finest homes of the United States. There are many 
libraries and schools, and playgrounds every few blocks. 

During our stay we ride down to the harbor to greet 
some friends from a steamer which has just arrived from 
the Panama Canal, and then take a boat to Long Beach 
to have a swim in the sea. We visit an ostrich farm outside 
the city and, coming back, take the cog railroad up Mount 
Lowe for a view of the country. 

Later we go to some of the parks and buildings where 
films for motion pictures are made. The ''movie" men 
have us pose for them, and we wonder what our parents 
will think when they see us trotting out on the screen. Los 
Angeles has many studios for making motion pictures, 
and many of the best of the film actors have their homes 
here. 

The water supply of Los Angeles comes from Owens 
River, which is farther away from Los Angeles than the 
distance between Washington and New York. The water 
is brought down to the city through a huge aqueduct of 
stone, concrete, and steel, which cuts its way through the 
mountains and over the desert, making a drop of fifteen 
hundred feet on the way. In making the aqueduct miles 
of tunnels and siphons had to be built ; for the water moves 
by gravity only and no pumping plants are required. The 
undertaking cost more than twenty-five million dollars, 



LOS ANGELES 



377 



but by it Los Angeles has all the water it can ever possibly 
need, and in addition enough to irrigate one hundred 
thousand acres of farms. Moreover, the fall is so great 
that it will supply one hundred and twenty thousand 




Oil wells, Bakersfield, California. Much of the oil from this region is 
used on trans-Pacific steamers. 

horsepower, and the electricity so generated will light the 
whole city and run its street cars and factories. We see 
hundreds of oil wells not far from Los Angeles, and learn 
that Los Angeles uses petroleum for fuel. California is 
one of the chief oil states of the Union. In some years it 
has produced enough to give several barrels of petroleum 
to every family in our country. 



378 NORTH AMERICA 

Our next journey is northward by train through the 
central valley of California to San Francisco. The dis- 
tance is four hundred and seventy-five miles, and there 
are grain fields, orchards, and vineyards almost all the 
way. It is hot in the valley, but we find San Francisco 
delightfully cool. The climate of this city is such that 
light overcoats and furs can be worn the year round, and 
the breezes from the ocean put life into one's veins. 

We first take a steamer and ride around in the harbor. 
San Francisco lies on a peninsula between San Francisco 
Bay and the ocean, facing the Golden Gate, which is a 
passage a mile or so wide connecting the Bay with the 
ocean. The Bay covers more than four hundred square 
miles and it is so protected that the whole of it can be used 
as a harbor. The average depth of the water is more than 
sixty feet. It is the largest land-locked harbor of the 
world. The harbor front is owned by the state, and when 
the present plans are completed, the wharves, docks, and 
piers will be more than fifty miles long. 

It was this fine harbor that formed the principal gate- 
way to the gold fields when they were discovered. At 
that time ships came in bringing gold hunters from all 
parts of the world, and San Francisco began to grow. 
Within two years it rose from a village to a city of twenty- 
five thousand. It has now a population of more than 
a half million, and its people say it will some day have 
one million or more. The first of the great railroads to cross 
the continent started eastward from here, and one can 
now go by several trunk lines to almost any part of the 
Union. As we float about in the harbor we see steamers 
which have just come in from Yokoha'ma and Ko'be, 
Hongkong, and Shanghai, and we see others starting out 
for Honolulu (ho-no-loo'loo) , Auckland, Sydney, and 



SAN FRANCISCO 379 

Melbourne. The latter ships will call at Samoa on their 
way south and leave passengers and freight for our colo- 
nists there. There is also a transport with many soldiers 
on board. It is bound for Manila, and will stop over a 
day at the Hawaiian (ha-wi'yan) Islands. 

Leaving the harbor, we walk up through the business 
section, where the skyscrapers are so large that they make 
us think of New York and Chicago, and then ride on the 
cable cars up Nob Hill. Here we see the houses of million- 
aires who have grown rich out of the resources of this very 
rich state, or who have made fortunes in Alaska and in 
the Hawaiian Islands. 

During our stay in San Francisco we look about in vain 
for signs of the earthquake and fire which occurred here 
in 1906. At that time some of the streets cracked wide 
open, chimneys tumbled down, and some large buildings 
fell into ruin. The water mains were broken, and fires 
could not be put out. More than four hundred people 
were killed, and several milHon dollars' worth of property 
destroyed. 

We take a photograph of the statue of Robert Louis 
Stevenson in one of the squares, and then drive out to 
Golden Gate Park, which consists of one thousand acres of 
gardens and trees overlooking the ocean. It has nine base- 
ball diamonds, but the teams we see playing are so much 
like our own teams at home that we soon leave the "bleach- 
ers." We go on to the CKff House to watch the sea lions, 
sport about in the water and bask in the sun on the rocks. 
Some of these huge animals are twelve feet in length, and 
weigh half a ton each. Their barking is so loud that we 
can hear it above the roar of the breakers. It makes us 
think of a hundred automobiles all honking at once. 

We cross the Bay by the ferry to Oakland, another large 




38o 



SAN FRANCISCO 381 

city, in which many of the men who do business in San 
Francisco have their homes, and from there we go to Berke- 
ley to see the University of CaKfornia, and later to Stan- 
ford, another great institution of learning. 

Coming back to San Francisco and strolling about 
through the streets, we are surprised at the many strange 
faces. The people come from all parts of the world. Most 
of them are Americans, but there are also Germans, Ital- 
ians, Spaniards, Russians, and Jews. There are hundreds 
of Japanese, many of whom own gardens and farms not 
far from the city, and there are more Chinese than in any 
other part of the United States. 

The Chinese have a settlement at the foot of Nob Hill, 
which covers a dozen or more city blocks. It is called 
Chinatown, and in it are Chinese stores, temples, and 
houses. The signs of the stores make us think of the char- 
acters on tea boxes. Some of the Chinese wear the same 
clothes as their brothers and sisters of Asia. The boys 
have on gowns with long sleeves, and little black caps 
with buttons on top. Some of them stand or sit on the 
streets, and stare at us with their twinkling almond-shaped 
black eyes as we go by. 

1. Compare our Pacific coastline with the Atlantic coast. Which 
is the longer? Why? Compare the mountain ranges of the Pacific 
with those along the Atlantic. Where do the cultivated lands of 
each region lie? Name some of the crops of each. 

2. Compare the cHmate of the two regions. Where on the 
Pacific coast does the most rain fall? The least? Describe Death 
Valley. 

3. Compare your own state in size with each of the three Pacific 
coast states. Compare California in size with the Atlantic states. 

4. What part of California might be called "Christmas Land? " 
Why? What fruits are raised there? Bring some of the fruits to 
class and let each tell the story of how it is raised. (For oranges, 



7^^2 NORTH AMERICA 

lemons and grapefruit, and olives, figs, and dates, see Carpenter's 
"How the World is Fed," pages 259-287). 

5. Imagine a Christmas Day in Los Angeles. What might you 
have to eat and how could you spend the day? 

6. Give some idea of the forests of CaHfornia. What are the 
big trees? Describe them. 

7. Name the four largest cities of the Pacific States, and compare 
them in size with the place in which you live. (See page 494.) 
Give some reason why each has become great. 

8. Take a trip through Los Angeles and tell what you see. De- 
scribe how this city in a semi-arid region gets its water supply. 
Where does much of its fuel come from? 

9. Where is the Golden Gate? Can you imagine a reason why 
it was so named? 

10. Describe the harbor of San Francisco. Give some reasons 
why the city has grown. Trace a shipment of canned fruit from San 
Francisco to Yokohama. To London. What is the distance in each 
case? 

11. What people from Asia do we see here? What do you know 
about the Japanese? The Chinese? (See Carpenter's "Asia "). 



LVI. THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST — PORTLAND 

WE have left San Francisco and come north to Port- 
land. The distance between the tv^o cities is greater 
than between Philadelphia and Detroit, and the way was 
dry and dusty notwithstanding our oil-burning locomotives. 
We went north through the Sacramento valley, so noted for 
its crops that it is called the granary of California, and 
spent a day within sight of Mt. Shasta, a snow-capped, ex- 
tinct volcano, about forty miles from the Oregon boundary. 
Entering Oregon, we found the land greener, and we 
now and then passed through forests. We went by or- 
chards of prune plums, apples, and English walnuts, and 
saw many little cities and towns. 



THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST — PORTLAND 383 

We are now in the Pacific Northwest, composed of 
Washington and Oregon. These two states have about 
four times as much land as Virginia or twenty times as 
much as Massachusetts. They have plains, high moun- 
tains and valleys, lands almost desert, and some regions 
where the rainfall is from seventy to one hundred inches 
a year. The Cascade Mountains, which run north and 
south through them, divide the wet and dry sections. 
To the east lie the arid lands, much of which have to be 
irrigated, and in the west are the wet lands where the 
rains give bountiful crops. 

Most of our travels will be west of the Cascades. This 
part of our country has a milder climate than any other 
in the same latitude. Oregon is warmer than Massachu- 
setts, and the winters of Puget Sound are milder than those 
of Washington, D. C. It seldom snows west of the Cas- 
cades, and the winter climate of Portland is milder than 
that of Tennessee or Kentucky. Nevertheless Portland 
is farther north than St. Paul, and Seattle is much nearer 
the North Pole than Quebec. The reason for the mild 
climate lies in the winds from the Pacific Ocean, which 
blow over the land. As the winds go on to the eastward 
they drop their load of water, and lose their heat; so that 
the winters of Montana and North Dakota are dry and 
exceedingly cold. 

Some of the largest forests of the United States are to 
be found on the western slope of the Cascades in Washing- 
ton and Oregon. The forests of Oregon are of enormous 
extent, and in Washington so much timber is being cut 
each year that if it were all made into boards an inch thick 
there would be enough to cover a road eight feet wide 
clear around the world. Washington is said to have two 
hundred billion feet of timber still standing. It produces 



384 NORTH AMERICA 

more annually than any other state, with Louisiana next 
and Oregon third. 

These woodlands of the Pacific Northwest far surpass 
in the extent of their timber anything we have in the East. 
The chief tree is the Douglas fir. Many of these firs shoot 
up as high as a tall church steeple before they put out a 
branch, and with the branches they may perhaps reach a 
hundred feet higher. Some of the trees are as big around 
as the Pullman sleeper in which we came north to Portland, 
and the logs are so heavy that a single one often forms a 
load for a freight car. Now and then a big tree is hollow, 
and it is said that a Washington settler used such a tree as 
a house while clearing his farm. The hole inside the tree 
was twenty-two feet in diameter and forty feet high. 
He put in a floor eight feet from the ground and used the 
space under it as a stable for his horse and cow. He had 
two living floors above this, and a knot hole formed his 
chimney. 

Some of the best timber of the world comes from the 
Pacific Northwest. The logs are sawed into lumber and 
shipped in giant rafts to the ocean. They are carried 
across the mountains to the Mississippi basin by the 
trainload, a single locomotive sometimes hauling as much 
as a half million feet of lumber. 

Logging in this western country is different from that 
which we saw in the South and near the Great Lakes. 
There is little or no snow in the woods, and the logs are 
dragged about by steam engines and often taken on cars 
to the mills. They are so heavy that they have to be loaded 
by cables of steel as thick as a broom handle. Such a 
cable pulled by steam engines will lift a forty-foot log 
five feet in thickness and drop it on the platform of a 
freight train. 



THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST — PORTLAND 



38s 




Shipping logs to the mills in the Pacific Northwest. Compare 

the thickness of the log in the foreground with the height of the 

man below it. 



In felling the trees the lumbermen first cut a gash so 
large that a man could lie down in it, and then they cut 
through the great trunk with a crosscut saw drawn back 
and forth by a man at each end. This takes a short time, 
and the giant of the forest falls with a crash to the ground. 
The trunk is sawed into logs, which the steam engines haul 
to the railroads by cables and load on the cars. 

The Pacific Northwest is one of our richest farming 
regions. It has many grain fields and orchards which are 
watered by rain, and thousands of others kept moist by 



386 NORTH AMERICA 

irrigation. Its apples command the highest prices in 
the markets of South America and Europe, and they are 
sold on our fruit stands throughout the East. 

We are delighted with Portland. The city is like a great 
park of homes, gardens, and trees, in the center of which are 
the public buildings and fine business structures. The 
climate is so mild that flowers bloom both summer and 
winter, and there are so many roses that the place is called 
the ''Rose City." A rose festival is held annually the first 
week in June. The flowers here remind us of Pasadena. 

Portland lies on both sides of the Wiflam'ette River, a 
few mfles from where it flows into the mighty Columbia. 
It is a little more than one hundred miles from the ocean, 
and the Columbia and Willamette are so deep that large 
ocean vessels make this one of their ports. We see freight- 
ers from Japan and elsewhere loaded with lumber, grain^ 
and fruit for shipment abroad. 

During our stay we take electric cars to Council Crest 
for the view. This place is high above the city, and as 
we stand there we can see far and wide over the rich Wil- 
lamette valley with its farms and orchards. There are 
five extinct volcanoes in sight, each of which is crowned 
with perpetual snow. They are Mounts Rainier, Hood,, 
Adams, Jefferson, and St. Helens. 

As we ride back to Portland the conductor tells us that 
the current which moves our car is created by waterfalls 
in the mountains, and that the city has enough such power 
to run its car lines, operate its factories, light all its streets, 
and furnish light and heat for many of its houses. In 
hundreds of Portland homes all the cooking is done by 
electricity. 

Taking automobiles, we motor for miles over the famous 
automobile roads through the gorge of the Columbia 


















^'^I^.rr 



Portland, Oregon. It is built on hills rising from both sides of the 
Willamette River. Mt. Hood, sixty miles east, is seen in the back- 
ground. Its lofty peak is always covered with snow. 

387 



SS8 



NORTH AMERICA 





'rm^ ^S4.:.^^^^i±-zi^^^-^^"^m 



In the Cascade Mountains. The Columbia River highway, shown 
here, has some of the most beautiful scenery of the Far West. 

River, going west to the old trading post of Astoria on the 
shores of the Pacific, and east to the Dalles (dalz), a distance 
of about two hundred miles. We visit Columbia Gorge 
Park, where fourteen thousand acres have been set aside 
by the government as a national playground, and wish we 
could go south to Crater Lake Park, or take some of the 
many mountain climbs so popular in this part of our land. 
However, we have time only for a sail up the Columbia 



- THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST — PORTLAND 389 

River to see salmon caught. The Pacific Northwest has 
one of the famous fishing grounds of the world. The 
waters of this part of the ocean abound in salmon, which 
come up the rivers at certain times of the year, and are 
caught in such great quantities that they are shipped all 
over the world. Hundreds of millions of pounds of them 
are put up in cans, and in this shape may be bought in al- 
most any grocery store. Immense quantities are frozen 
whole and sent to the East in cold storage cars, so that 
one can have a fresh salmon from Washington, Oregon, or 
Alaska, in almost any American city. 

The salmon served on the boat which takes us up the 
Columbia is fresh from the water. It is cut into great 
slices and brought smoking hot to the table as salmon 
steaks. It seems to us we have never tasted salmon before. 

Salmon spend most of their lives in the ocean, but they 
are hatched in the fresh- water streams of the land. They 





1 . 




~- 




^^fei^:-^7- 




mmm 




- 'li^ltjWKgS""" ^Meil^^A 


^ 


*^,^ 
^ ^ 






^ 




ht. 





Drying salmon nets at a cannery on the Columbia River. 

CARP. N. AMER. — 24 



390 NORTH AMERICA 

spend their babyhood there, and then go out to sea, where 
they hve three or four years, and then swim back to the 
places where they were hatched to lay their eggs and to die. 
When they come in from the sea the salmon move in 
great schools, filling the smaller streams and often the 
rivers. They are caught in nets and traps, and sometimes 
in fish wheels so fastened to the end of a boat that the 
wheel is turned by the current. Wire nets are attached 
to the rim of the wheel, and the fish rush into the nets 
and are lifted up by the current which keeps the wheel 
moving. As the wheel turns the salmon slide off into a 
trough on the boat. Such fishing may be seen in many 
places in the Pacific Northwest. It is common also in 
the streams of British Columbia, and even in the Yukon 
and other rivers of Alaska. 



>>*to 



LVII. PUGET SOUND AND THE INLAND EMPIRE 

WE have returned to Portland, taken the train, and 
ridden a day northward to Seattle on Puget Sound. 
We are now on a great inlet from the ocean, so beautiful 
that it is sometimes called the American Mediterranean. 
The sound covers an area about twice the size of Rhode 
Island, and its shores wind about to such an extent that 
if they were stretched out in one line they would reach 
farther than from here to Los Angeles. There are many 
beautiful islands in the Sound, and some of the finest snow- 
capped mountains of the United States look down upon it. 
It has a mild climate, and the rains are so frequent that 
during most of the year the land all about is covered with 
green. 



PUGET SOUND 391 

The waters of Puget Sound are so deep that ocean 
steamers can anchor almost anywhere in it. It has many 
fine harbors, and Seattle is so favored as to seagoing and 
shipping arrangements that it has become the chief port 
of the Pacific Northwest. It has an immense water front, 
and this is connected by a ship canal with Lake Washing- 
ton, at the east of the city. Steamers can pass through 
the locks into the lake and have safe anchorage there. 
This enables them to get rid of the barnacles, little shell- 
fish which attach themselves to the hulls of ocean vessels 
in such numbers that they often greatly reduce their speed. 
These barnacles cannot live in fresh water, and after a 
short while in the lake the steamers are clean. 

The railway facilities of Seattle are equal to those af- 
forded by steamships. The Great Northern, the Northern 
Pacific, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul con- 
nect it with the east, and a branch of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway connects it with Canada. 

The harbor of Seattle is filled with shipping from all 
parts of the world. As we walk along the wharves we 
see men unloading raw silk and tea from Yokohama and 
Shanghai, jute from Calcutta, hides and furs from Siberia, 
hemp from Manila, and rubber from Singapore and Ceylon. 
Among the principal exports is fish, for Seattle is the chief 
fish market of the Pacific Coast fleet. Its vessels go far 
and wide over the ocean, and many bring in cargoes of 
fish from southern Alaska. More than twenty-seven 
thousand tons of salmon, cod, and herring are shipped away 
in one year, as well as a large amount of hafibut. The 
canned salmon annually exported is enough to give five 
cans to every family in the United States and have some to 
spare. It goes to all parts of the world. 

We have a fine lesson in geography by trying to follow 




392 



PUGET SOUND 393 

the shipments to the places to which the officials of the 
port tell us they go. In one year Seattle sent more than 
one hundred thousand pounds of canned salmon to Hong- 
kong; more than a half milhon pounds to Africa, and three 
hundred thousand pounds to far-away India. It exported 
three fourths of a million pounds to Mexico, sixty thou- 
sand pounds to Aden, Arabia, and about five million 
pounds to the Philippine Islands. Europe took an im- 
mense quantity, and more than one milhon pounds went 
to Australia. 

The lumber exports of Seattle annually amount to tens 
of millions of feet. They go to South America, Australia, 
Asia, and Europe, and to the Hawaiian and Philippine 
Islands. More than eighty thousand carloads are shipped 
from here over the railroads to the east. Join these cars 
together, giving fifty feet to each car, and they would make 
a solid lumber train as long as from Louisville to New 
Orleans. Among the chief lumber shipments are red cedar 
shingles. About two thirds of all the wood shingles of the 
United States come from here. 

We are surprised at the beauty of Seattle. The city is 
so surrounded by water, that one is almost always in sight 
of the sea. A stream, or a beautiful lake, and the snow- 
capped peaks of the Olympic and other high mountains 
are always in view. 

Within a day's journey is Mt. Rainier, which is three 
hundred feet higher than Pikes Peak, and has fifty thou- 
sand acres of glaciers upon it. To the north is Mt. Baker, 
which has seven great glaciers, and to the northeast is a 
white sugar loaf known as Glacier Peak, with several 
glaciers flowing down from its snows. 

Leaving Seattle, a motor-car ride of an hour or so takes 
us to Taco'ma, another fine ocean port on the Sound. It 




394 



PUGET SOUND AND THE INLAND EMPIRE 395 

is not so large as Seattle, but it is quite as beautiful and 
has equally good railway and shipping facilities. It is the 
chief grain and fruit port of this region. 

Tacoma is a large manufacturing center, largely because 
of its cheap electric power from the Snoqual'mie Falls and 
other waters of the Cascades near by. The Snoqualmie 
Falls are almost twice as high as Niagara. They furnish 
thousands of horsepower of electricity which is carried by 
cables more than forty miles to the consumers. Addi- 
tional energy is supplied by other falls in the mountains, 
and there is so much water power within easy reach of 
the two cities that the people tell us they will some day 
have enough for all sorts of industries. 

The mountains of our Pacific slope are unsurpassed in 
their store of white coal, as water power is sometimes 
called. Much of the work in California is done by elec- 
tricity generated by such power, and there is so much avail- 
able in Oregon and Washington that the two states could 
create, it is estimated, a greater horsepower than all the 
water from the Great Lakes which drops down at Niagara. 
The possible amount is estimated at more than seven mil- 
lion horse-power. One fourth of all the water power of 
the United States is to be found on the Pacific Coast. 

But let us take the train and go to the eastern side of 
the Cascade Mountains to see something of the semi-arid 
part of the Pacific Northwest. Beyond the Cascades is a 
vast tract known as the Inland Empire, comprising eastern 
Washington and Oregon and a part of northern Idaho. 
This tract equals in extent all of New England, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland combined. 

This great territory was once deeply covered with lava, 
the surface of which has broken down into a rich soil. It 
was long supposed to be too dry for farming, but it has 



396 NORTH AMERICA 

been found to grow excellent wheat, and it now produces grain 
by the millions of bushels a year. There are many fine 
orchards and in the valleys are large tracts of irrigated land. 
Spokane (spo-kanO is the commercial capital of the 
Inland Empire. It lies on both sides of the Spokane River, 
which rushes through the city in a gorge, dashing down 
in fall after fall for a distance of one hundred and thirty- 
two feet. The waters boil and foam as they drop from 
level to level, sending up a silvery spray. They furnish 
a great water power, and to take advantage of this the 
people have put in huge pipes through which the water 
falls upon turbines, thus generating the electricity which not 
only lights the city and operates its mills and factories, 
but is also sent far out into the country. 

1. What states compose our Pacific Northwest? Compare each 
with your own state in size and character. 

2. Why are the winters of Washington mild and those of Montana 
and North Dakota bitterly cold? 

3. Where are the chief forests of the Pacific Northwest found? 
Why? Visit a lumber camp and tell what you see. Trace a cargo 
of lumber from Portland by two routes to Buenos Aires. From 
Seattle to Yokohama. To Shanghai. 

4. Visit Portland and show why it has become a rich city. For 
what flower is it noted? 

5. What fish do we find in large quantities in the Pacific North- 
west? Tell the life history of one of them. (See Carpenter's "How 
the World is Fed," pages 163-170.) 

6. Locate Puget Sound. Why is it sometimes called the "Ameri- 
can Mediterranean? " What are the two chief cities upon it? 
Which is the larger? 

7. What advantage to an ocean port is a fresh water lake with 
which it is connected? 

8. Mention some of the imports and exports of Seattle, telling 
from what place they come and to what place they go. 

9. What is the Inland Empire? Describe its chief city, and some 
of its products. 



AMONG THE INDIANS 397 

LVIII. AMONG THE INDIANS 

WE have seen many Indians in our travels west of 
the Mississippi River, especiaUy in the Plateau and 
Pacific States. When we were crossing the Western High- 
land by train the Indians came to the stations to sell us 
pottery and baskets, and purses and moccasins made of 
skins embroidered with beads. In the Southwest we saw 
the homes of the ancient cllffdwellers. In that part of the 
country some Indians still live in houses built one on 
top of another, so that they climb on ladders from house 
to house. The roofs of the lower houses form the play- 
grounds for the children above, and the dogs as well as the 
children climb up and down the stone steps and ladders 
from roof to roof. These are the homes of the Pueblo 
Indians, who are in many ways civilized. They cultivate 
farms on the lowlands, have orchards surrounded by stone 
walls, and raise watermelons, cantaloupes, corn, beans, and 
pumpkins. Some of the tribes make beautiful blankets and 
baskets which are sold for high prices in many of our 
stores. 

Among the Pueblo Indians are the Hopi (ho'pe) of New 
Mexico and Arizona, who are good farmers and weavers. 
They have, always had towns built high up on bluffs in 
order to be safe from wild animals and to protect them- 
selves from their enemies. They have no enemies now, 
but some of them still continue this practice. The Hopi 
have many masked dances, including the snake dance, 
during which they carry live rattlesnakes around in their 
mouths. 

There are many Nav'aho Indians in Arizona, New 
Mexico, and Utah. They have round huts made of poles 
covered with earth, with holes in the tops for chimneys. 



398 NORTH AMERICA 

They weave beautiful blankets, some of which sell for 
several hundred dollars apiece. 

There are more than thirty thousand Indians in Arizona, 
about twenty thousand in New Mexico, seventeen thousand 
in CaHfornia, sixteen thousand in South Dakota, and 
twelve thousand in North Carolina. Oklahoma, which 
was once known as the Indian Territory, has about sixty 
thousand Indians, much of the land having been set aside 
for the five civilized tribes. There are red men scattered 
over other parts of the United States, many on tracts re- 
served for them by the government, some on lands which 
they own individually, and others employed in various ways. 
During the World War we had Indian scouts with the army 
in France, and among our trained nurses were three Indian 
girls. We can get an Indian scout almost anywhere in the 
Rockies if we wish to go hunting or fishing, and if we do we 
shall not be surprised to hear him speak English and learn 
that he went to school as we do. 

Our government has established many schools for the 
Indians, and we have now about fifty thousand young 
redskins going to school. If we should visit Oklahoma we 
should find that some of the Indian boys and girls stand 
quite as high in their studies as do the white children. 
Some of the men have fine farms and their boys have 
their own pig clubs and baby beef clubs and corn clubs. 

The Indian school children dress much as we do. In 
fact, the Indian who wore feathers in his hair and was 
clad only in skins has long since passed away. On many 
of the reservations the babies are still kept in bags of skin 
covered with beads and arranged in such a way that a 
mother can carry her baby about on her back, and the 
Indians still wear blankets over their clothes. Both men 
and women wear their hair long, the men sometimes gath- 




Pueblo Indian woman and daughter. These people are skilled in 
making pottery and weaving baskets and blankets. The woman 
here is engaged in weaving a basket. In the foreground is a pile 
of corn, one of the chief foods of these people. It is ground into 
meal between stones. 



399 



400 



NORTH AMERICA 



ering it into two great braids at the front, but as a rule the 
Indians dress Hke the whites, and they are fast coming 

to live in much the 
same way. 

In Oklahoma, the 
Cherokees', Chicka- 
saws, Choctaws, 
Creeks, and Sem'i- 
noles, who were 
called the five civil- 
ized tribes, have had 
their reservations di- 
vided among them 
so that each member 
of the tribes received 
a large amount of 
land. Many of 
them have beautiful 
houses and prosper- 
ous farms. Some of 
them have made for- 
tunes out of the oil 
found on their lands, 
and others have grown rich in different ways. These 
people have schools and churches. They are among the 
Indians who vote, and not long ago we had an Indian 
who was Registrar of the Treasury, and whose name 
appeared on every bank note and Liberty Bond. 

But who are these people and where did they come from? 
We know that they have copper-colored skins, and that 
they are called the Red Race. They have high cheek 
bones, straight noses, black eyes, and coarse black hair. 
Both men and women part their hair in the middle. 




Indian babies, or papooses. They are 

carried in these baskets slung on the 

mother's back. 




Ruins of Cliff Palace, in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 

once the home of prehistoric cliffdwelling Indians. It is built of 

cut stone held together by mortar, and contained 200 rooms. 



401 



402 NORTH AMERICA 

The features of many of the Indians are much like those 
of the Mongolians that one sees in north China and Si- 
beria. For that reason it is supposed that they came 
from Asia across Bering Strait ages ago and settled in 
North and South America. The Indians were the only 
people who inhabited the New World when Columbus 
made his great discovery, and it has been estimated that 
there were at that time about half a million Indians north 
of the Mexican boundary, most of whom lived in the United 
States. Now we have less than three hundred thousand, 
including those in Alaska, and there are only about one 
hundred thousand in Canada. 

The Indians of the past were of many tribes, with dif- 
ferent languages, customs, and means of existence. In 
the great forests of the East, they were hardy and warlike, 
living almost altogether by hunting and fishing, although 
some had small patches of corn and tobacco, and others 
made use of wild rice as food. In the southeastern part of 
the country, north of the Gulf of Mexico, the Indians 
had permanent villages. They cultivated farms, made 
pottery, wove cloth, and knitted cloaks of turkey feathers. 

In the southwestern part of our country many of the 
Indians engaged in agriculture, and on the plateau they 
lived largely by fishing and by hunting the buffalo and 
other wild animals. 

The ancient California Indians of our Far West were 
skilled in making baskets and pottery as they are now, and 
along the North Pacific coast, where there was plenty of 
wood, the Indians made their houses of split planks, and had 
dishes, bowls, and spoons of wood. Most of these Indians 
live in plank houses to-day. They are excellent fishermen, 
and are skilled in handling canoes and boats of all kinds^ 
We shall meet many of them during our trip to Alaska. 



AN AIRPLANE FLIGHT THROUGH ALASKA 403 

1. What race inhabited North America when the New World 
was discovered? How many people of this race then lived north of 
our Mexican boundary? About how many live there now? 

2. Find out all you can about the customs of the Indians before 
America was settled. How do many of them live now? 

3. Name the five civilized tribes. In what state are most of these 
Indians to be found? 



LIX. AN AIRPLANE FLIGHT THROUGH ALASKA 

WE have come back to Seattle by train and are now 
high up in the air in a fleet of airplanes flying north 
to Alaska. The territory is so large and so full of strange 
things that we have not time to explore it all during this 
journey. 

As we look at Alaska on the map, it is hard to realize 
that the territory has an area of almost six hundred thou- 
sand square miles. It is one third larger than all of our 
country north of Tennessee and east of the Mississippi 
River. From north to south it is about as long as from 
Canada to Mexico; and from east to west so long that if 
the whole territory could be lifted up and dropped down 
upon the United States with the easternmost point touching 
the Atlantic Ocean at Savannah, the westernmost point 
would be at Los Angeles on the Pacific. The Aleutian 
(a-lu'shan) Islands, which are a part of Alaska, extend 
almost to Japan, and Bering Strait is so narrow that we 
can fly from North America to Asia and back in about 
twenty-five minutes. The distance is forty miles. 

The Alaskan coastline with its windings is longer than 
the distance around the world at the equator, and if the 
navigable rivers were stretched out end to end, they would 
reach several thousand miles. The Yukon River is fifth 










404 



AN AIRPLANE FLIGHT THROUGH ALASKA 405 

in size on the North American continent, and on the Kus'- 
kokwim, to the south of it, small steamers can go into the 
interior as far as from New York to Cleveland, The Xanana 
(ta-na-naO River is navigable from the Yukon to Fairbanks 
at the head of the government railway. Another tributary, 
the Porcupine, gives access by boat far to the northeast, and 
miners go in small steamers far up the Koyukuk (ko-yoo'- 
kook) to wash out gold from its sands. 

This land is one of magnificent scenery. It has the high- 
est mountains of the North American continent, glaciers 
which surpass in extent any in Europe or Asia, and enormous 
volcanoes, such as Katmai, which recently sent forth 
clouds of ashes that darkened the sky and coated the 
country about with such a thick covering that the land 
seemed to be covered with snow. Alaska has great valleys, 
some of which have thick woods filled with deer, bear, 
and moose; mossy tundras upon which reindeer feed; and 
cold, dry plains many miles in extent. 

The country is one of many climates. Along the coast 
of southeastern Alaska, because of the warm winds from 
the ocean, the winters are no colder than those of Virginia, 
and in Juneau (joo'no), the capital, the weather is as mild 
as in Washington, D. C. Farther west along the south 
coast, and in the Aleutian Islands, for the same reason, 
the climate is mild, but over the mountains it is dry and 
bitterly cold. In the interior of Alaska, the thermometer 
often falls to sixty or seventy degrees below zero, and at 
Fairbanks, in the Tanana valley, when the winter weather 
is twenty below the people think it is fine. There and in 
the far north the winter sun comes out for only a few 
hours at midday, and at Point Barrow for forty days in 
midwinter it does not come out at all. Just now it is mid- 
summer and we shall fly over many places north of the 




4o6 



AN AIRPLANE FLIGHT THROUGH ALASKA 407 

Yukon where the sun is still shining at midnight. We 
shall be able to take photographs from our airplanes at 
one o'clock in the morning, and may perhaps get a snap- 
shot of a baseball game at one of the mining camps, for 
sports are sometimes held at that hour. 

But all this while we have been flying northward along 
the moist warm coast of British Columbia. We are now 
crossing Dixon Strait and entering southeast Alaska. 
That pretty little town with its houses of wood and brick 
hugging the mountains is Ketchikan'. It lies just north 
of the boundary between Alaska and Canada. These 
beautiful islands covered with green, their tops crowned 
with snow, belong to the Alexander Archipelago, which 
runs from here for several hundred miles along the west 
coast. 

How it rains! As the water pours down upon us, we are 
reminded of the reply of a Ketchikan man to a tourist 
who landed in a similar storm. The tourist asked: 

''Does it rain always like this in Ketchikan? " 

" I don 't know, " was the reply. " I have lived here only 
seventeen years." 

As we go on to the north the sun comes out now and then, 
and the land is glorious under its rays. We circle about 
at the end of a, fiord before the Taku Glacier, a huge wall 
of blue ice which rises from the water almost to the height 
of our national Capitol. From there we go on to Juneau, 
which is within gunshot of the Mendenhall Glacier, a 
river of ice several hundred feet deep, which ends in a 
valley bordered with the most gorgeous wild flowers. At 
the same time the breath of Jack Frost, whose summer 
home may be in this ice, sends a chill to our bones. 

We shall see other glaciers as we fly northward along 
the coast, and about the Gulf of Alaska. There are more 

CARP. N. AMER. — 25 



4o8 NORTH AMERICA 

than five thousand between Ketchikan and Seward, near 
Prince William Sound, where the government railway 
begins. Upon the western slope of Mount St. Elias, for 
instance, eleven huge blocks of ice are moving down to 
the ocean, and one of these is fifty miles long and twenty 
miles wide, while another ends in a wall of ice two hundred 
feet high. The Muir Glacier, near Skagway, is twice as 
high as Niagara Falls and three times as wide. 

We drop down at Juneau, the capital of Alaska, to call 
upon the governor of the territory and have a look at the 
great gold mines on Douglas Island and on the mainland 
near by. Juneau has good stores and fine homes running 
along streets of planks, which climb from the water far 
up the steep mountains. 

We make another stop at beautiful Sitka, on Bara'nof 
Island not far away. This was the old capital, and it has 
buildings which were put up by the Russians when they 
owned the country. We learn here how the United States 
bought Alaska from Russia for seven million two hundred 
thousand dollars, and take our pencils and try to figure the 
cost. We find that the territory contains more than three 
hundred and seventy million acres, and that it cost less 
than two cents per acre. As we go on with our flight we 
shall learn what a good bargain Uncle Sam made with the 
Russians. The country now produces in gold, copper, and 
furs, every year, many times as much as it cost. From 
its mines we have already takefi out gold, silver, and copper 
worth more than four hundred million dollars; from its 
waters we have sold fish products which have brought 
more than three hundred millions; and we have received 
more than eighty million dollars from the furs of the seals, 
otters, foxes, and other wild animals caught on both sea and 
land. Just now the chief mineral is copper, the product of 



AN AIRPLANE FLIGHT THROUGH ALASKA 409 

which is worth more than the gold and silver combined; 
and from the fisheries we are annually receiving many 
million dollars more than from all the minerals. 

When we remember that in the Louisiana Purchase we 
bought from France almost twice as much land as Alaska 
for about four cents an acre, it seems to us that Uncle Sam 
is a wise real estate dealer. 

Flying on northwest, we skirt the Gulf of Alaska, going 
slowly over Cor'dova, where a railroad passes between 
two mighty glaciers on its way to the Kennecott copper 
mines high up in the mountains, and near which are large 
mines of copper and deposits of coal. A little later we drop 
down to the Kenai (ke-ni') Peninsula to have a look at 
Seward, the southern terminus of the government railway. 
It is a thriving little settlement on an excellent harbor, 
kept open all the year round by the mild climate. 

The distance from Seward to Fairbanks on the Xanana 
River in the heart of Alaska is about four hundred and 
seventy miles, and the government railroad now joins the 
two towns. This railroad runs northward through a little 
valley under the shadow of Mt. McKinley, the land about 
which is now a national park. 

We have no time for a trip over the railway, but with 
our airplanes we fly to the top of the mountain, where 
we stop in order to say we have rested our feet on the 
highest point in the North American continent. The 
scenery is grand, but the air at this height is so thin that 
we find our heads aching with mountain sickness. The 
intense cold sends chills down our spines, and the winds 
almost lift our airplanes up from the ice. It is dangerous 
to wait, so we climb back into the planes and are soon out 
in the milder climate above the lowlands of the coast. 

We sail high over Kodiak (kod-yak'), a great green 



410 



NORTH AMERICA 




Street in Nome during a Fourth of July celebration. 



island noted for its huge bears ; we see the volcano of Katmai 
sending up volumes of vapor off to our right; and then we 
go on out over the Aleutian Islands and above Bering Sea. 
Our next stop is in the midst of that sea, at the Pribilof' 
Islands, where the fur seals come every year to breed and 
rear their young. It is from these seals that we get the 
beautiful furs that are sold all over the world. They have 
already brought in more than fifty million dollars, and 
the government protects the seals so that we shall probably 
have colonies of these animals here for all time to come. 
We spend a while with the government officers, taking 
photographs of the seals. Some of the huge bulls weigh 
five times as much as the biggest boy in our party, but 



ESKIMOS AND INDIANS 411 

the puppies are so small we can pull them about. They 
look Hke young dogs, and are so playful as they swim about 
in the water that we wish we could take one along with us. 

From the seal islands our air fleet moves to the north. 
We pass the mouths of the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers; 
fly slowly over Nome, where a few miners are washing 
out gold from the sands of the seashore, and then go on 
above Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean. We follow the 
Arctic coast to Point Barrow, our settlement nearest the 
North Pole, and then come back to Nome. 

Our flight has been made in the summer, when the 
Arctic Ocean is almost free from ice, although we now and 
then see an ice floe or a great iceberg floating about. There 
are schools of whales in the sea, and near the coast now 
and then we see a drove of walruses, huge sea animals, the 
largest of which is twelve feet in length and weighs almost 
a ton. Walruses spend most of their time near the shore, 
resting at times on the floating ice. They are valuable 
chiefly for their ivory tusks, one of which hangs down- 
ward on each side of their bristling mouths. Some of the 
tusks are almost as long as a baseball bat. 



»»Cc 



LX. ESKIMOS AND INDIANS — A TRIP UP THE 
YUKON 

DURING our long flight through Alaska, we have 
seen many Indians. They live along the coast of the 
southern part of the territory, on the islands of the Alex- 
ander and Aleutian archipelagoes, and almost every- 
where along the great rivers. Those of the interior live 
in log cabins, and in southeastern Alaska in houses of 



412 



NORTH AMERICA 




^^ 



S 



'X*A 



boards with huge totem poles wonderfully carved 
in front. The totem pole indicates the tribe or 
clan to which the family belongs, and it also 
had something to do with the religion of the 
Indians before they were converted to Chris- 
tianity by our missionaries. There are Indian 
„ schools almost everywhere, and most of the 

M^i^ Indians we meet speak more or less English. 

* ^ ^ Along the south coast the Indians live largely 
by fishing, and many of them work for the great 
fishing companies, both at sea and in the can- 
neries. Some have boats of their own and go 
far out in the ocean for sea otters and haHbut. 
In the interior nearly all hunt or trap for their 
living. Most of the furs and skins are taken in 
the winter and in the spring sold to the white 
traders who go from port to port and town to 
town to buy. 

These Indians of Alaska are much like those 
of the United States, save that the waters are 
their chief hunting grounds. The food of some 
tribes is largely fish, wild game, and berries. 
They catch salmon in the summer and dry 
them for winter use. They have fish wheels 
similar to those we saw on the Columbia River, 
and as we fly up the Yukon or Kuskokwim, 
we shall see these fish wheels turning about in 
the stream, and racks of poles for drying the 
fish on the banks near by. 

During our flight over the Seward Peninsula 
and along the coast of the Bering Sea and the 
Arctic Ocean we have seen many Eskimos. 
Totem pole. There are some here at Nome, and we can 




Eskimo children. They wear fur-hned dresses and fur-Hned boots. 

413 



414 NORTH AMERICA 

fly to their little villages near by. The Eskimos about 
Nome make their living by fishing and hunting and 
selling furs and ivory carvings. They are dressed in half 
civilized fashion. The women have parkas, or long cloaks 
of calico trimmed with fur, and under them cloth trousers 
and boots of sealskin reaching halfway to their knees. 
Others of the Eskimos are clothed entirely in fur. They 
have fur parkas, fur trousers, and fur hats or bonnets 
which stand out in a long fringe around their light yellow 
faces. 

The Eskimos are not so dark skinned as the Indians, 
and their faces are square rather than long. The children 
have rosy cheeks, and their lips are bright red. The faces 
of many of the old women are tattooed from the lower lip 
to the chin, and now and then we see an old man with a 
button of bone fastened in a hole near the edge of his 
mouth. The Eskimos have black eyes and coarse black 
hair. The women part their hair in the middle and wear 
it in two long braids down their backs. The eyes of the 
Eskimos slant a little like those of the Chinese. The people 
have a friendly look and smile as we trade with them. 

Many of these people speak English, and their children 
go to the government schools. We have established more 
than twenty pubhc schools on the Seward Peninsula and 
others along the north coast. More than eight hundred 
Eskimo children attend them. They are learning civilized 
ways and are taught to honor the American flag. The 
Eskimos learn their lessons as easily as we do, and they 
are experts in many games and athletic sports. They are 
good shots, and are skillful in handling the kayak (ki'ak), 
a skin boat somewhat like a canoe. 

Of late years many of the Eskimos have herds of rein- 
deer, the descendants of animals which our government 




415 



4i6 NORTH AMERICA 

brought from Siberia. They use the deer to drag their 
sledges from place to place. The milk and flesh of these 
animals are excellent food. We see large droves of rein- 
deer during our flight, for there are now many thousands in 
Alaska, and they are increasing so fast that reindeer meat 
is being sent in cold storage ships to the United States to 
be sold in our markets. The meat tastes like venison. 
We wonder how our parents will like it when it comes to 
their tables. 

During the winter some of the Eskimos live in snow 
houses near the good hunting and fishing grounds. The 
houses are made of blocks of snow, with tunnel-like en- 
trances through which one has to crawl to reach the large 
room that forms the winter home. Instead of a window 
there is a hole in the walls or roof, which is sometimes cov- 
ered with thin skin. The cooking was once done over lamps 
of stone in which seal or whale oil was burned, but now 
many of the Eskimos have oil stoves like ours and buy 
their kerosene from the traders. 

Leaving Nome in our airplanes, we fly across Norton 
Sound to the mouth of the Yukon, and up that great 
river past the gold camp of Ruby to where the Xanana 
River flows into it at Fort Gibbon. Here we turn more 
to the south and fly up the Xanana valley to Fairbanks, 
the chief commercial center of interior Alaska. Xhe town 
is situated at the end of the government railway whose 
other terminus we saw at Seward. It is also the head of 
navigation on the Xanana. Xhere are steamers which 
make regular sailings out to the Yukon, some going down 
that river to Nome, and others upstream to Fort Yukon, 
Circle, Eagle, and on to Dawson in Canada. Xhere are also 
trails and wagon roads from Fairbanks to Val'dez and 
Cordova on the south coast, and to mining camps in other 



A TRIP UP THE YUKON 



417 



parts of the territory. Fairbanks is in a rich placer mining 
region, and there are farms and gardens not far from 
the town. Our Department of Agriculture has an experi- 
ment station five miles from Fairbanks, where barley, 




Farmhouse and summer flowers, near Fairbanks, Alaska. 

buckwheat, and other grains are raised. The little city 
has large stores, a public library built of logs, and many 
comfortable log houses, which, in the summer, are sur- 
rounded by beautiful gardens of vegetables and flowers. 



1. Locate Alaska. The Alexander Archipelago. The Aleutian 
Islands. The Alaska Peninsula. The Seward Peninsula. Bering 
Strait. How far it is from Cape Prince of Wales to Asia? Where 
is Point Barrow? 

2. Compare Alaska with the main body of the United States in 
size; in climate. Compare the Yukon River with the Columbia; with 



4i8 NORTH AMERICA 

the Mississippi; with the Hudson. Where is its source? its mouth? 
What navigable tributaries has it? 

3. Locate Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Seward, Nome, and Fair- 
banks, and tell something about each. Trace a shipment of goods 
from New York via railway to San Francisco, and by ship to Nome. 
By way of the Panama Canal to Seattle, and thence to Nome. By 
the Strait of Magellan. 

4. From what nation did we buy Alaska? What was the price, 
and was it a profitable purchase? 

5. What is the midnight sun? Where is it seen? (See Car- 
penter's "Europe.") 

6. What is a glacier? Describe some glaciers which we see on 
our journey. 

7. What are the chief products of Alaska? Pay a visit to the 
seal islands and tell what you see. (See also Carpenter's ''How the 
World is Clothed," Chapter 26.) 

8. Describe the Indians of Alaska. The Eskimos and their winter 
homes. 



LXI. BRITISH AMERICA — GENERAL VIEW 

WE have left Alaska and are now in British America. 
We have come by airplane from Fairbanks eastward 
to Dawson at the mouth of the Klondike where it flows 
into the Yukon. We are in what not very many years ago 
was one of the chief gold-mining regions of the world, 
and out of which even now men are taking every year gold 
worth some millions of dollars. The gold, hke that about 
Fairbanks and Nome, is placer gold, most of which is buried 
deep down in earth that has been frozen for hundreds of 
years. The mining is done by thawing the soil by wood 
fires or steam pipes and washing it to get out the gold. In 
some places the thawed ground is worked over by huge 
dredges, and in others by hydraulic giants, or lines of 
large hose which send streams of water against the sides 




Dawson, Yukon Territory. 




Gold dredge, Canada. It digs up the thawed ground and washes 
out the gold. 

419 




Longitude 



420 



422 NORTH AMERICA 

of the hills. It was in 1896 that the gold was discovered, 
and since then more than two hundred million dollars ' 
worth of this precious metal has been taken out of the 
frozen ground. 

The mines are now almost exhausted; and Dawson, 
which was once a fair-sized city, has dwindled to little 
more than a village. It is the capital of the Yukon Territory, 
however, and by a call on the governor we learn something 
of British America. 

But first let us take a bird's-eye view of this mighty 
land to the north of the United States. British America 
is so large that we have not time to see it all, even by air- 
plane. With the exception of Alaska, it includes the whole 
northern part of our continent. From north to south it is 
several hundred miles wider than the United States, and 
from east to west several hundred miles longer. It is almost 
as large as Europe, and has more land than our country, 
even including Alaska. Canada is larger than Australia, 
twice as large as India, and thirty times- the size of the 
United Kingdom. The island of Newfoundland, which is 
not a part of the Dominion of Canada, is as large as Ohio. 
The Labrador coast is governed by Newfoundland. 

This territory of British America is one of mighty moun- 
tains and vast plains and plateaus; of mighty rivers and 
inland seas. It has a western highland as we have, great 
plains devoted to wheat and other grains, and forests 
so extensive that only the wilds of northern Europe and 
Asia can be compared to them. The rivers of British 
America include the Mackenzie, which is about as long as 
the Mississippi without the Missouri, and the St. Law- 
rence, which drains the Great Lakes. Moreover, British 
America owns one half of four of those lakes, and it has 
also Great Bear Lake, which is larger than Lake Erie, and 



BRITISH AMERICA — GENERAL VIEW 423 

Great Slave Lake and Lake Winnipeg, each of which exceeds 
Lake Ontario in size. Hudson Bay may be compared to 
the Mexican Gulf, for it is about thirteen hundred miles 
long and nearly six hundred miles wide. All together, the 
coast line of British America is half the length of the 
equator. 

The climate of Canada varies from the mild coasts of 
British Columbia, where the winters are no colder than 
those of Kentucky, to the frigid lands of the north, where 
in the interior the thermometer may drop to seventy 
degrees below^ zero ; and from regions where it rains almost 
every day to the dry lands east of the Rockies, where 
irrigation is required to make the crops grow. The far 
north has such long, cold winters that only a few Indians 
and Eskimos live there, though the short summers are 
very warm. The uninhabited lands of the whole country 
are so extensive that the population of Canada is less 
than one tenth that of the United States. The only 
thickly settled regions are in the provinces that border 
on the Great Lakes and in the grain areas of the great 
plains. 

Nevertheless, British America is of enormous impor- 
tance to us, and its resources are so many and so varied 
that it will always have a large place in the world. Its 
foreign trade is already more than two billion dollars a 
year, and the greater part of this is with the United States. 
The country has rich mines of gold, silver, and copper; 
it has enormous agricultural resources, and some of the 
largest fisheries of the world. The lumber and wood pulp 
exports of Canada amount to many millions of dollars a 
year, and a large part of the newspapers and books of the 
United States are printed on paper made from the soft-wood 
trees of the Canadian forests. 




424 



BRITISH AMERICA — GENERAL VIEW 425 

But suppose we take a look at the map and divide the 
country into sections before we begin to explore it. In 
the far east we see Newfoundland, which is a separate 
colony of Great Britain; and southwest of it we see Prince 
Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, belong- 
ing to Canada. This territory is almost surrounded by the 
sea, and, therefore, it is often referred to as the Maritime 
Provinces. It is about as large as Illinois and Ohio com- 
bined. It is a land of great resources, having valuable 
forests, and rich deposits of coal and other minerals. Its 
inhabitants are largely a sea-faring people, more than fifty 
thousand men being engaged in fishing for the cod, lobster, 
and herring found near its shores. 

To the west of the Maritime Provinces are the two prov- 
inces of Quebec and Ontario, which are sometimes called 
Eastern Canada. This section of the Dominion has al- 
ways been foremost in commerce, manufactures, farming, 
and forestry. It has the largest cities and almost two 
thirds of the people, and its area is about one third of all 
British America. 

Farther west, between Ontario and British Columbia, 
lie the three prairie provinces of Manito'ba, Saskatchewan, 
and Alberta. These we call Central Canada. Their area 
is nearly equal to that of our plateau states, and they 
correspond somewhat in character with the great plains of 
our country. Most of the land is wooded, but the southern 
portion is one vast stretch of grain land and pastures. 

West of the prairies and extending to the Pacific Ocean, 
is what is known as Western Canada, consisting for 
the most part of British Columbia. This corresponds to 
our Western Highlands. It has high mountains seamed 
with valuable minerals, and valleys which are being turned 
into orchards much like those of our Pacific Northwest. 



426 NORTH AMERICA 

British Columbia is almost one tenth the size of the United 
States. 

The remainder of British America consists of Yukon 
Territory, where we are now, and the Northwest Terri- 
tories. This is Northern Canada. It is one third as large 
as all Europe, but it is so wintry and wild that its popula- 
tion of Indians, Eskimos, and whites is less than fifty thou- 
sand all told. It might be called the great fur land of the 
Canadian Dominion. 



LXII. NORTHERN CANADA — THE FUR LANDS — 
INDIANS AND ESKIMOS 

TO-DAY we shall see something of the extensive 
wastes of British America. The land is so wild that 
we shall have to do most of our traveling by boats or 
canoes, or on foot with dog sleds. This part of the Cana- 
dian Dominion has few roads. There is only one little 
railway which comes over the mountains from Skagway, 
Alaska, to White Horse, at the head of navigation on the 
Yukon, where one can get steamers for Dawson. We 
take ship at Dawson and go on down the river to Fort 
Yukon, Alaska, where we steam up the Porcupine River 
to the Canadian boundary and then tramp across country 
to Fort McPherson on the Mackenzie. We carry some 
flour, bacon, and other food with us, and add to this by 
the fish and game we catch or shoot on the way. 

At Fort McPherson we find one of the Hudson Bay 
Company's steamers and go out to the Arctic Ocean to 
watch the whalers at work, and then, turning back, travel 
southward on the Mackenzie River to the Great Slave 



NORTHERN CANADA 427 

Lake, from which we make our way across country to Hud- 
son Bay. We visit the fur trading posts on the west coast 
of that bay, and from Port Nelson go to the end of the 
Hudson Bay railway, which takes us into the prairie 
provinces of Central Canada, and on to the more settled 
parts of the Canadian Dominion. 

Our travels in the northland are especially interesting. 
With the exception of the treeless tundras along the Arctic 
Ocean, we are in the woods all the time, and the only 
people we see are the white fur traders and the half savage 
Indians and Eskimos who live by hunting and trapping. 
The traders are our hosts at the Hudson Bay Company 
posts where we stop on the way. Each post has a little 
store filled with goods, which are exchanged for the furs 
and skins that the Indians take in their trapping and 
hunting. We find Indians about the posts, and are able 
now and then to go out with them to look at their traps, 
or to hunt deer, bear, and other wild game. 

The Hudson Bay Company controls most of the fur 
trade of British America. It was organized more than two 
hundred and fifty years ago, when Charles II of England 
gave certain rich citizens of London the exclusive right to 
trade with the Indians of the Hudson Bay wastes. This 
territory was extended until at last the company controlled 
nearly all the country from Labrador to the Pacific, and 
from the United States to the Arctic. Much of the southern 
part of these lands have since been taken over by settlers 
and turned into farms, but the Hudson Bay Company 
agents are to be found trading for furs almost everywhere 
in the northlands of the Canadian Dominion. 

British America is one of the best fur lands of the world. 
It has bears, minks, foxes, wolves, and deer in its forests, 
and beavers and otters in its rivers and lakes. In the far 

CARP. N. AMER. — 26 




428 



NORTHERN CANADA 429 

north the trade is by barter, in which the unit of account 
is the beaver. One beaver pelt is worth a certain number 
of martens, and that of a silver fox is worth many beavers. 
The Hudson Bay Company sends out blankets, beads, 
knives, and other such things for sale, and the Indians 
know just how much they should get for each skin. Some 
of the supplies are brought in by railway and carried across 
southern Canada to Edmonton in Alberta and thence 
north to the Mackenzie River; some go to Dawson in 
the Yukon Territory and out that way; and some by 
steamers into Hudson Bay, which is open to navigation 
for about four months during the summer. The ships 
leave their supplies, and then return to London loaded 
with furs. 

In our long northern journey we find no lack of either 
game or fish. We now and then kill a caribou and some- 
times a moose. Moose hunting is by no means child's 
play. A bull moose is often eight feet in height, and from 
tip to tip its enormous antlers sometimes measure six feet. 
The best time for hunting moose is in winter. Then the 
tracks of the huge animals can be plainly seen in the deep 
snow, and by using snowshoes one can follow them so rap- 
idly that they cannot escape. The Indians call the moose 
by imitating its cries, and they are careful to keep to the 
windward lest he should scent their presence. In such 
hunting it is well to have a repeating rifle; for the huge 
bulls are fierce fighters, and when wounded are liable to 
turn upon the hunter and crush him with the'ir horns. 

In the Rockies of British America are many panthers, 
grizzly bears, and mountain sheep, and in the north are 
polar bears, such as we have in Alaska. The grizzlies are 
enormous, and those who hunt them take their lives in 
their hands. Mountain sheep are found in the hills high 



430 NORTH AMERICA 

above where the grizzHes live. They are sure-footed, jump- 
ing from rock to rock, and are difficult to kill. 

1. Locate British America. Compare it in size and climate with 
the United States. With Europe. With the United Kingdom. Into 
what sections may British America be divided? Locate them on the 
map, and name their chief characteristics. 

2. What is the population of British America? How does it corn- 
pare with that of the United States? (See page 492.) 

3. Locate Northern Canada. Hudson Bay. Mackenzie River. 

4. What is the Hudson Bay Company? How is the fur trading 
carried on? What are the principal furs from northern North America? 
Which are the most important? How are they caught and pre- 
pared for the markets? (See Carpenter's " How the World is Clothed," 
pages 176-205.) 

1>0}«<00 



LXIII. WESTERN AND CENTRAL CANADA — 
ACROSS THE ROCKIES AND WHEAT BELT 
INTO ONTARIO 

FROM the southern terminus of the Hudson Bay 
railway we travel westward through Saskatchewan 
and Alberta to Edmonton, and thence by the Grand Trunk 
Pacific railway over the Rocky Mountains to Prince Ru- 
pert. The scenery of the last part of the trip is quite as 
wonderful as anything we have seen in the United States, 
and there are snow-clad mountains most of the way. 
Prince Rupert lies right on the sea. It is one of the chief 
ports of Western Canada, and salmon and halibut are 
brought here by shiploads and frozen for export over the 
railways to Eastern Canada and the United States. 

Prince Rupert has an excellent harbor, from which 
some day there will probably be many steamship lines 
going to and from Japan and China. The port is so far 



WESTERN CANADA 431 

north on the globe that its distance from these countries 
across the Pacific Ocean is much less than from Puget 
Sound or San Francisco, and by this route the trip from 
Europe westward to Asia can be reduced one or two days. 
At present most of the shipping of British America goes to 
the Far East and Australia through the port of Vancouver 
(van-kooVer). We shall visit that next. 

We take ship at Prince Rupert and steam southward 
along the coast, and within two days are at anchor in the 
harbor of a delightful city in sight of the great white cone 
of Mount Baker, which we have already seen from Seattle. 
This is Vancouver, the western terminus of the Canadian 
Pacific railway, and an important port for steamers going 
to Asia. The city has wide streets, beautiful parks, and 
many fine buildings. 

Not far from Vancouver, at the southern end of the island 
of Vancouver and on the route of the steamships going 
out to the Pacific, is Victoria, the capital of British Colum- 
bia. This in another fine city, with great public buildings 
looking out on the harbor, and with comfortable homes, 
which, with their many flowers, remind us of Seattle, Ta- 
coma, and Portland. Vancouver Island is almost as large 
as Ireland. It has a delightful climate and much rich 
farming land. 

We leave Vancouver for our trip east by the Canadian 
Pacific, going along the Eraser (fra'zer) River, where the 
miners are still washing gold from the sands, and then 
climbing onward and upward into the heart of the Rockies. 

The scenery is grand in the Canadian Rockies. We ride 
for days with snow-capped mountains in sight, now and then 
flying past glaciers and great fields of ice, and now looking 
down into valleys walled with huge pines and great Douglas 
firs. There are mining camps here and there on the way, 



4^2 



NORTH AMERICA 







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Mount Assiniboine, near Banff, Canada. This peak is known as 
the "Matterhorn of America."- 



and if we should go off from the railroad we might find 
settlements where men are mining gold, silver, copper, and 
coal, or visit valleys where are great orchards of apples and 
pears. 

British Columbia has some of the richest mining regions 
of the North American continent, and its mineral output is 
worth millions of dollars a year. It may be compared with 
the Western Highland of our country, although the climate 



WESTERN AND CENTRAL CANADA 433 

near the coast is milder than that of the highlands of the 
United States. 

Out of the Rockies we come down into the great plains 
of Central Canada, stopping first at Cal'gary, whose loca- 
tion reminds us of Denver. Like Denver, it is in the foot- 
hills of the mountains, and like that city it is surrounded 
by vast tracts of irrigated lands, watered by a river which 
comes from the highlands. Going on eastward, we travel 
for days through the wheat fields, crossing Alberta, Sas- 
katchewan, and Manitoba, all large provinces with rich 
farming lands. There are many cities and towns with 
elevators near the railroad, where we see the farmers un- 
loading their grain for the cars. We are now in the largest 
block of wheat land in the world and we might travel for 
hundreds of miles to the north, south, east, or west and 
not get out of the grain fields. We stay awhile at Regi'na, 
the capital of Saskatchewan, and spend several days in 
Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, and the largest city of 
this part of Canada. It is the metropolis of the Canadian 
wheat lands ; all the Canadian trunk lines from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific pass through it; and it soon will have rail- 
way connections also with Hudson Bay. It is the key to 
the prairies and commands the trade of the region to the 
north and west. 

Leaving Winnipeg by train, we stop next at Port Arthur, 
on Lake Superior. This place corresponds to Duluth, 
in our own country, as it is the Canadian head of the navi- 
gation of the Great Lakes. It is a thriving milling and 
manufacturing center, and has so many huge elevators 
that it might be called the Minneapolis of British America. 
Here we spend some time watching the loading and un- 
loading of wheat, and are told that most of the grain put 
on the steamers will be sent down through the St. Marys 




434 



CENTRAL CANADA 435 

Canal and the Welland Canal to Montreal (m6nt-re-6r) , 
and thence off to Europe. Indeed, we might go along 
with the wheat and stay on the boat until we reach Mon- 
treal, but we have made a similar journey by ship from 
Duluth to Buffalo, and as we want to see the interior of 
the country we decide to continue our travels by railway. 

The first part of our journey is through dense timber 
lands. Almost all of the southern part of the province of 
Ontario, in which we are now, is covered with forest, and 
the only farms are those which have been cut out of the 
woods. We travel for miles seeing nothing but trees, 
crossing rapid rivers and skirting numerous lakes. 

We stop over a day at Sudbury to see the greatest nickel 
mines of the world. 

Every one of us knows what a nickel five-cent piece is. 
How would you like to have a pile of them as big as the 
National Capitol at Washington? If you had, it would 
not contain as much nickel as the ore that already has been 
taken out of the mines here at Sudbury. There are only 
two places on earth, so far as is known, where nickel is 
found in large quantities. One is here in Canada, and 
the other is on the little island of New Caledonia, south 
of the equator and not far from Australia. Canada pro- 
duces about three fourths of all that is mined. 

The nickel ore at Sudbury lies in the earth much like 
the iron ore we saw at Lake Superior, except that the nickel 
is sandwiched between great walls of rock. The ore is 
taken out by drilling and blasting, and the metal is smelted 
and refined for the various industries or to be coined into 
money. One of its uses is for hardening the steel of pro- 
jectiles and of armor plate for vessels of war. It is also 
employed to toughen steel railroad rails when used on 
curves or steep grades. A great amount of nickel is also 



436 NORTH AMERICA 

consumed in nickel plating, for a thin coating of it will 
keep iron or steel from rusting away. 

1. Locate Prince Rupert and Vancouver. Why is Prince Rupert 
nearer Asia than Vancouver? 

2. Take a trip across Western and Central Canada from Vancouver 
to Winnipeg and tell what you see. Through what provinces do 
you pass? What is the chief crop of this region east of the Rockies? 
Compare it with the same crop of the United States. Of other 
countries (See page 501.) 

3. From what port on Lake Superior are the products of Central 
Canada sent down the lakes to Montreal? Through what two canals 
do they go? What share has Canada in the Great Lakes? What 
lake belongs entirely to the United States? 

4. What is nickel, and where is it found? Bring a nickel five-cent 
piece to class and let it tell its story. 



»^c 



LXIV. EASTERN CANADA — OTTAWA, 
MONTREAL, AND TORONTO 

TRAVELING on to the eastward, we come into the 
more thickly settled regions of Ontario, and finally, 
at about thirteen hundred miles from Winnipeg, reach 
Ot'tawa, the capital of the Canadian Dominion. Ottawa is 
a beautiful city. It is situated on a high bluff at the junc- 
tion of the Rideau (re-do') and Ottawa rivers. The rivers 
pass through the city, and the immense water power is 
utilized for foundries and factories. One can go by 
steamer on the Ottawa River to Montreal, and on the 
Rideau Canal to Lake Ontario at Kingston. 

The streets of Ottawa are wide and laid out at right 
angles. The chief government buildings are on Parlia- 
ment Hill, which is one hundred and twenty-five feet above 



EASTERN CANADA 437. 

the river. The magnificent Parhament Building is more 
than five hundred feet long. 

It is at Ottawa that the governor-general of Canada 
lives. He is appointed by the king of Great Britain, and 
receives a salary of about fifty thousand dollars a year. 
He is little more than a figurehead, however, like the king. 
The people of Canada elect the members of the Dominion 
Parliament, and it is Parliament that fixes the taxes and 
directs how all of the government moneys are to be spent. 
Parliament makes the laws, and controls the prime minister, 
who is the real chief executive. 

The Parliament at Ottawa deals only with Canada as 
a whole. Each of the provinces has a government some- 
what like that of our states. Although nominally a colony 
of Great Britain, the country is almost as much a republic 
as ours is. 

The two largest cities of Canada are Montreal and 
Toronto. Toronto is the capital of the province of On- 
tario. It is situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, 
on an inlet which gives it a magnificent harbor, Canada 's 
three transcontinental railways have terminals at Toronto, 
and this is also the chief port for the vessels that go through 
the Welland Canal on their way up and down the Great 
Lakes. The city is of about the same size as Buffalo, and 
like Buffalo it draws much of its light, heat, and power 
from Niagara Falls. It is a be.autiful city, and is a large 
railway, commercial, and manufacturing center. 

Montreal is three hundred and thirty-three miles from 
Toronto. It might be called the New York of Canada, 
for it is the chief seaport and chief commercial and finan- 
cial center. The city is situated on an island formed by 
the junction of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers. It 
is more than six hundred miles inland from the Atlantic 



438 NORTH AMERICA 

Ocean, by the St. Lawrence River, but the largest sea- 
going vessels can come to Montreal. This gives Canada 
an ocean port far in the interior. 

In Montreal, we take taxicabs and ride down to the 
wharves which line the St. Lawrence for more than a mile. 
Huge ocean steamers are coming in and going out, and we 
see immense cargoes of grain which have been brought 
down from Port Arthur through the Welland Canal being 
transferred to other vessels for Europe. 

Leaving the river, we drive through the city to the foot 
of Mount Royal, the hill from which Montreal was narred. 
It is about three hundred feet high, and we ride to the top 
on an inclined railway like those on Pikes Peak and Mount 
Washington. The view is magnificent. To the south 
and southwest we can see our own green Adirondacks 
with their peaks kissing the sky. Below us lies the city, 
its wide streets bordered by trees, with its great churches, 
its huge skyscrapers, and its many factories and grain 
elevators. The wide, silvery St. Lawrence flows before us, 
and we notice the Victoria Bridge, an openwork steel struc- 
ture, with double tracks, carriage ways, and walks for 
pedestrians. It rests upon piers or pillars of stone, the 
upper sides of which extend out into the river in the shape 
of great plowshares in order to cut the ice when it rushes 
against them in the spring. 

Winter in Canada is thej'oUiest time of the year. The 
air is cold and dry and the snow lies upon the ground for 
months. There are skating, snowshoeing, and toboggan- 
ing. Every city has its skating rink and every town its 
snowshoe club, each member of which has his own uni- 
form consisting of a bright-colored blanket coat with 
a hood or cowl on it fastened to the neck so that it may 
be drawn up over the head. The children run over the 



EASTERN CANADA 



439 



snow, playing games in the moonlight. They sing as they 
play, and the sight is a pretty one. 

Tobogganing is enjoyed by men, women, and children. 
The toboggan is a thin piece of board about eighteen inches 
wide and from four to eight feet long. The board is turned 
up at the front end. It has a smooth bottom, and when 
placed on the edge of a hill with one or more passengers 




Toboggan slide in Quebec. The city is built partly beside the 

river and partly on the hill above it. The toboggans fly down 

the hill for a half mile or more. 



seated upon it, it will rush down over the glassy snow 
with the speed of an express train. The steersman sits in 
the rear, directing the course of the board with his foot. 
If he makes a mistake the toboggan with all upon it may 
be turned upside dovni in the snow. 



440 NORTH AMERICA 

LXV. QUEBEC — THE MARITIME PROVINCES 

IN our travels through Eastern Canada we find that 
many of the people are French. In the province and 
city of Quebec most of the inhabitants are of French 
descent. French is spoken by almost everyone on the 
streets of Montreal, and at the government offices we find 
that all official notices are printed in both English and 
French. The signs over the stores are in the two lan- 
guages, and most of the newspapers are printed in French. 
The market is supplied with vegetables by French- Cana- 
dian farmers, and the talk there makes one think of the 
markets of Paris. 

For a long time this part of Canada was a possession of 
France, and it was a question whether the French or the 
British would control the Great Lakes and the northern 
part of the continent. In 1759, during the French and 
Indian War, the British soldiers under General Wolfe 
climbed the heights upon which the city of Quebec is 
built and captured it. The British conquered the country, 
and in 1763 Canada was formally annexed to the British 
Empire. It is still a dependency of Great Britain, although, 
as we have seen, its people practically govern themselves. 

As we steam down the St. Lawrence from Montreal, we 
are interested in the stories we hear of the fight at Quebec, 
and we stop there to have a look at the city, and stroll 
about over the battlefield. The town is so well fortified 
by nature that it has been called the American Gibraltar. 
It is built partly upon a rocky bluff three hundred feet 
above the water, and there are forts on the rocks near the 
city, and also on the heights on the opposite bank, so that 
it would be almost impossible for a foreign battleship to pass 
through and go on up the St. Lawrence River. 




Scene in Quebec. The city has many narrow streets and old-fashioned 

houses. 



441 



442 NORTH AMERICA 

The battlefield of the French and the British was the 
Plains of Abraham, just back of Quebec. As we stand 
upon it our guides tell us that both of the commanding 
generals were mortally wounded during the engagement. 
General Wolfe, the leader of the British forces, died on 
the field, having been hit three times. General Mont- 
calm', who led the French, was struck twice, and was 
carried into Quebec, where at five o'clock next morning 
he died. This battle was fought September 13, 1759. 
Soon afterwards the French rule in North America came 
to an end. 

Quebec is much like an old town of France. It has 
narrow streets which wind their way up and down hill, 
and as we go through them we can hardly believe that we 
are on the hustling, bustling North American continent. 
One of the modes of conveyance is by the calash', a one- 
horse vehicle with two wheels and a body that rests upon 
springs on the shafts. We hire calashes and ride through 
the lower town, visiting the market, and then climb the 
hills to have a look at the public buildings, convents, and 
churches. We stroll upon Dufferin Terrace, on the edge 
of the cliffs several hundred feet above the St. Lawrence, 
and then go out to the citadel to watch the drill of the 
soldiers. 

Our next trip takes us into the Maritime Provinces. 
We go to Nova Scotia, visit New Brunswick, and stop 
awhile in Prince Edward Island to see the farms on which 
foxes are raised for their furs. We then cross over into 
Newfoundland, and go with a fishing schooner out to the 
Grand Banks to the greatest cod-fishing grounds of the 
world. Here under the shallow sea is a plain about two 
hundred miles long and seventy miles wide, where cod- 
fish, herring, and mackerel come by millions to feed. These 



THE MARITIME PROVINCES 443 

fish are fond of cold water, and the Arctic current, which 
flows over the banks, brings down the shme containing the 
sea life that forms their favorite food. The cod are the 
most important. They are caught in quantities and sent 
all over the world. 

Most of the time the Banks are covered with fogs, 
and as huge icebergs sometimes float over them, and the 
steamers on their way to and from Europe cross them, 
the fishing is dangerous. The Grand Banks are free to 
the fishermen of all the world, and vessels from our country 
and other lands compete with those of Canada in catching 
fish. 

The air is pure and the fresh breezes from the Atlantic, 
flavored with salt, fill us with a desire to be again on the 
sea. There are steamers at the wharves and we have no, 
trouble in finding one to carry us southward to Boston. 
From there we go by rail to New York and take passage 
upon a ship for Vera Cruz (va'ra kroos'), the chief sea- 
port of Mexico. 

1. Pay a visit to Ottawa and the Pariiament Building. Compare 
the government of Canada with that of the United States. 

2. Locate Toronto, and compare it with a great United States city 
near by. By what water power are many of its factories run? De- 
scribe this power, and tell why Canada has more of it than the United 
States. (See page 279.) 

3. Why might Montreal be called the New York of Canada? De- 
scribe the advantages of its location. 

4. During what season w^ould you like to visit Canada? Why? 

5. Where is Quebec? Why does it have so many French people? 
What great battle took place there? How is the city defended? 

6. What great fishing grounds are found in eastern Canada? What 
is the principal fish caught there for the markets? How is the fishing 
done? (See Carpenter's "How the World is Fed," page 157.) 

7. Find New Caledonia on the map and describe it. (See Car- 
penter's "Australia and Islands of the Seas.") 




444 



MEXICO 445 

LXVI. MEXICO — GENERAL VIEW 

WE are in Mexico this morning. We have jumped 
from the north temperate zone into the tropics. As 
we sailed southward from New York, the weather grew 
warmer and warmer. We soon entered the Gulf Stream, 
and made our way against the current until we passed 
through Florida Strait and crossed the Gulf of Mexico. 
We sailed over the Gulf not far north of the Peninsula 
of Yucatan (yoo-ka-tan') and came to anchor inside the 
breakwater at the piers of Vera Cruz. We are now in the 
hot lands of our sister republic. There are palm trees and 
tropical plants in the gardens, and outside the city are 
plantations of bananas and sugar cane. We see orange 
and lemon trees everywhere, and there are many coconut 
palms on the coast. 

Let us take a bird's-eye view of this new land before 
we explore it. Mexico does not look large on the map, but 
it is one fifth the size of British America. Where the coun- 
try joins the United States, the distance across it is almost 
as great as from New York to Denver; and from El Paso 
in Texas to Merida (ma're-^a) in Yucatan, by land, the dis- 
tance is much greater. The coastline of Mexico on the Gulf 
of Mexico and Pacific Ocean is so long that if joined end to 
end it would reach from San Francisco to London with 
some miles to spare. 

And now how does Mexico look as it is spread out before 
us? Is it not like a great horn with its roots in the United 
States boundary and its tip in the Yucatan Channel? The 
land is low along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Pacific Ocean; and from there it rises steeply to the top of 
the great highland of mountains and plateaus which runs 
through western North America from Panama to far-off 

CARP. N. AMER. — 27 



446 NORTH AMERICA 

Alaska. In Mexico this highland is a wide plateau with 
many high mountains rising above it. On the average 
it is more than a mile above the sea, so that it has the 
most delightful of climates. 

It is only in the lowlands of Mexico that the weather is 
tropical. We have already found out that altitude has 
quite as much to do with the climate of a place as its 
nearness to the equator. As we climb the hills from the 
coast, we soon come into the temperate regions, or terra 
templada (tyer'ra tem-pla'tha) as the Mexicans call it, and 
should we ascend to the top of the mountains we should 
reach the tierra fria (fre'a), or cold land, parts of which 
are covered with ice the year round. The hot lands of the 
coast are known as the tierra caliente (ka-lyen'te). 

A great part of our traveling will be done upon the 
plateau, for that region contains most of the land and 
has a temperate climate so that most of the people live 
there. We shall find the weather there much like that of 
our June all the year round. There is no winter, but a wet 
and a dry season, neither of which is unpleasant. If we are 
at Mexico city during the wet season, we shall be safe in 
going out without our umbrellas until about two o'clock 
p. m., and after that we can move about between showers 
until nightfall, when the sky will be clear again. 

The different altitudes of Mexico give all sorts of crops. 
Sugar, cotton, and cacao grow well along the coast, and 
there we find bananas, pineapples, and vanilla beans. 
A little higher up are orchards of cacao, and of lemons 
and oranges, and also coffee plantations. The plateau 
is largely a desert covered with sage brush and cactus. It 
has many irrigated farms which produce much the same 
crops as our central states. It has corn, wheat, and other 
grains, and beans are grown almost everywhere. Corn 




A roadside market in Mexico, for vegetables and fruits of the 

temperate as well as the torrid zone. Notice the men's hats with 

brims a foot wide. 

447 



448 NORTH AMERICA 

and beans form a large part of the food of the people. 
Much of the plateau is divided into great ranches, and 
cattle and sheep in great numbers graze upon the high 
plains. 

Mexico is a land of rich mines. It produces more than 
one fourth of all the silver of the world. It has also large 
deposits of gold, lead, copper, and zinc. It has one silver 
mine, the Veta Madre (va'ta ma'dra) Lode at Guanajuato 
(gwa-na-hwa'to), which has produced almost as much silver 
as the famous Comstock mine we saw on our Western 
Highland. 

But what sort of people has Mexico? We can see types of 
the different kinds here in Vera Cruz, but we should have 
to travel over the whole country to appreciate them and 
know what they do. Mexico has over fifteen milHon 
inhabitants. It has more people than all British America, 
and about one seventh as many as we have in the United 
States. Only about one fifth of the people are pure whites, 
the descendants of the Spaniards who conquered the 
country shortly after it was discovered. The remainder 
are either pure Indians, or the descendants of whites 
and Indians. There are more than five million pure Indians 
in Mexico, which is about twenty times as many as we 
have in our country. The Mexican Indians, however, 
have always been more civilized than most of the red 
race north of the Rio Grande, and to-day they live almost 
altogether by farming or labor of one kind or another. 
The language of the people is Spanish, which is spoken 
by most of the Indians as well as by the whites. 

As we go over Mexico we shall find that a large part of 
the country is cultivated. The good lands are divided up 
into farms, and there are many cities and towns with 
factories and other industrial establishments. There are 



FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO CITY 449 

several long trunk lines of railway which connect the 
country with the United States. Many of the cities and 
towns are lighted by electricity. Most of the country is 
civiHzed, although within the past few years there have 
been many revolutions against the government, and on 
this account the people have not advanced as they should. 



LXVII. FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO CITY 

LANDING at Vera Cruz, we seem to be in another 
^ world. The faces of the people are darker than ours. 
We cannot speak Spanish, and must have a guide who 
understands English to take us about. Many of the 
ladies we see on the streets are clad all in black; and some 
have lace shawls over their heads like those worn by the 
women of Spain. Some of the men from the country wear 
hats with brims a foot wide, and bands of silver and gold 
as thick as our thumbs. They have jackets embroidered 
with silver, leather belts from which silver-mounted re- 
volvers hang, and trousers ornamented with stripes of 
silver buttons. 

We take motor cars and ride through the streets. The 
roofs are flat and we see very few chimneys. Almost all 
over Mexico the people use charcoal for cooking, and here 
at Vera Cruz it is so hot one does not need a fire to keep 
warm. 

How gay the town is ! The walls of the houses are painted 
in bright reds, yellows, and blues. The houses stand on 
the edge of the sidewalks, and the windows of the ground 
floor have iron bars like those of a prison. There is a 



450 NORTH AMERICA 

great square or plaza in the center of the town, and about 
this are many fine buildings. 

Going out into the country, we ride for miles by groves 
of palm trees, in the tops of which hang coconuts. We 
pass thickets of bamboo cane, whose feathery branches 
extend high above the roofs of the cars. We see here and 
there a mahogany or an ebony tree, and our guide points 
out the vines which he says bear the vanilla bean. It 
is from these beans that we get the extract used in flavor- 
ing ice cream and cake. When we take a vanilla soda 
we are drinking something from Mexico. 

The forests are interesting. They are full of curious 
flowers, and there are so many orchids and other rare 
plants hanging to the trunks and the branches, that we 
could have a carload for the picking. There are birds of 
bright colors flying about through the trees, and the mock- 
ing birds whistle at us as we go by. 

Coming back to Vera Cruz, we take the train for Mexico 
city. We cross the lowlands and find the ascent to the 
plateau so steep that a double locomotive is used. In one 
place we rise a thousand feet in twenty miles, and in an- 
other four thousand feet in twenty-nine miles. The great 
engine drags us on through tunnel after tunnel, now twist- 
ing this way and now winding that, until at last, having 
hfted us more than a mile and a half above the sea, it 
lands us at Esperanza (es-pa-ran'sa), where we stop for 
lunch. 

We are now at the beginning of the plateau which forms 
the greater part of Mexico. During our climb we have 
gone through a half dozen different climates. Just out- 
side Vera Cruz we passed through fields of pineapples, 
the pink bodies of which shone out against the dark earth. 
At one of the stations, some Indian women brought the 



FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO CITY 451 

fruit to the cars. It was fresher and riper than any sold 
in our markets and much more delicious than any we had 
ever tasted before. It was so soft that we ate it with 
spoons. A little farther on we passed through a banana 
plantation, with coffee bushes under the shade of the 
bananas. The bushes have dark green leaves and bright 
red berries as big around as a small chestnut. There were 
Indians picking the berries and we were told that each 
berry contains two of the seeds which form the coffee of 
commerce. 

Coifee plants are sprouted in nurseries, and then set 
out in fields, and well cultivated. At the age of four or 
five years, they begin to produce fruit and continue to 
yield for many years. Each bush gives from one to five 
pounds of coffee a year. After the berries are gathered, 
they are crushed to get off the soft pulpy hulls, and the 
seeds or beans are then dried and cleaned for the market. 
Almost all of our coffee comes from Brazil, but Mexico 
raises fine coffee, and we see large plantations along the 
railway about Orizaba (o-re-sa'ba) on our way from the 
sea to the plateau. 

Going on with our journey, we soon reach a country 
which reminds us of our Western Highland. The land 
is white and glaring, and for miles the only plants are 
cactus and sagebrush. As we ride through on the rail- 
roads, our eyes grow sore and our nostrils are filled with the 
dust of the desert. There are many varieties of cactus. 
Some of us have seen century plants in our hothouses at 
home. Mexico has a species of this plant family, which 
is of great value on account of the long threads or fibers 
of which its leaves are composed. It is henequen (hen'e- 
ken), or Sisal hemp, which is of great value for the making 
of binder twine and ropes of all kinds. Much of our wheat, 



452 



NORTH AMERICA 




Maguey plants, and donkeys carrying pigskins of native beer toward 
Mexico city. 



oats, and other grain is bound up with twine made of the 
fibers. The Sisal hemp plant grows best in Yucatan. We 
buy one hundred and fifty thousand tons of this fiber in one 
year. 

Another cactus which we see on our way to Mexico 
city supplies a beer of which the Mexicans are fond. This 



FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO CITY 453 

plant is the maguey (mag Va) , which grows so big that one 
plant could hardly be crowded into a hogshead. The 
maguey has leaves from six to eight inches thick, which 
sprout up from the ground to the height of ten or twelve 
feet, and in some cases as high as twenty feet. Inside the 
leaves lies a green cone as big around as a peck measure, 
and when this cone is cut out, a hole about the size of a 
two-gallon bowl is left. 

Into this bowl the sap or juice from the leaves runs 
down in streams, a single plant producing several gallons 
a day. At first the juice is sweet, and milky in color. 
Within a short time it turns darker and begins to ferment, 
and soon becomes a beer that will make one drunk if one 
takes too much of it. The sap continues to flow for months, 
so that a single plant may produce several barrels of the 
liquor. 

1. Locate Mexico. Trace our route from New York to Vera Cruz. 
Through what waters do we go? How far do we travel? At fifteen 
miles per hour, how long is the voyage? 

2. Compare Mexico in size and population with British America. 
With the United States. 

3. What classes of people make up the present population? Com- 
pare the Mexican Indians with those of the United States. What is 
the language of Mexico? Why? 

4. Describe the climate and the vegetation of the lowlands of 
Mexico. Of the plateau. Where are the banana and pineapple 
fields? The coffee plantations? What is coffee and how is it grown? 
(For further information see Carpenter's "How the World is Fed," 
pages 297-308, also Carpenter's "South America," pages 293-301.) 

5. Name five minerals of Mexico. How does Mexico rank in the 
world in the production of silver? 

6. Visit Vera Cruz and tell what you see. 

7. What is henequen? Where does it grow best? Why are our 
farmers interested in it? Trace a shipment to Minneapolis via New 
York. What is maguey, and how is it used? 



454 NORTH AMERICA 

LXVIII. THE CAPITAL OF MEXICO 

WE are in Mexico city this morning. We arrived here 
last night, having come two hundred and sixty- 
three miles by rail from Vera Cruz on the coast. We are 
now in the heart of the plateau, about halfway between 
the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. We are almost 
a mile and a half above the sea, in the highest of the great 
capitals of the world. Lassa in Tibet, Quito (ke'to) in 
Ecuador, and Bogota' in Colombia, are the only capitals 
which are higher, but all are small in comparison. 

Mexico is the largest city of North America outside 
the United States. It is a magnificent city, lying amid 
lakes in a beautiful and almost circular valley, upon which 
look down some of the highest peaks of the North Ameri- 
can continent. One is Popocatepetl (p6-po'ka-ta'pet'l), 
from whose icy summit are now rising volcanic vapors, 
and another is Ixtaccihuatl (es-tak-se'hwat'l), or the 
White Woman, so named because its top has the form of 
a sleeping giantess clad in perpetual snow. 

Taking a taxi, we go to the huge cathedral which stands 
in the center of the city. We can climb one of its towers 
and have a bird's-eye view of the Mexican capital. Now 
we have entered the tower and felt our way round and 
round through the darkness up the steps to the top. 
Where we come out we are two hundred feet above the 
plaza, with a great expanse of red and gray buildings 
spread out all about us. Beyond, on all sides, stretching 
far away to the foot of the mountains, is a beautiful valley 
forty -five miles long and thirty miles wide, with a half 
dozen silvery lakes scattered here and there through it. 

The Mexican capital is a fair type of many of the cities 
of Mexico, and this view gives us some idea also of the 



THE CAPITAL OF MEXICO 455 

smaller towns of the country. As the city shines out be- 
low us it looks much like a checkerboard. The streets 
cross one another at right angles, and they go out in every 
direction from the great square in which the cathedral 
stands. The roofs of the houses are flat, and, strange to 
say, there are no chimneys rising above them. Not a 
bit of smoke comes from any of the buildings, for the 
fuel is charcoal, which makes no smoke, and the cooking 
is done in little clay ovens. There are but few furnaces, 
and iron kitchen stoves are almost unknown. 

From the roofs of some of the houses we can see white 
and gay-colored patches floating to and fro in the breeze. 
They are the family washings, which are often dried on the 
roofs. Farther out in the suburbs, upon the edges of the 
canals, are other patches of white. They belong to the 
laundresses. Much of the washing of Mexico is done in 
the streams, only cold water being used to get the clothes 
clean. 

Observe how the houses are built. Very few of them are 
of more than three stories in height, but some cover a 
great deal of ground. They stand close to the sidewalks, 
and consist of a wall of rooms built around a little court 
or patio (pat'yo). Every large Mexican house has a court 
of this kind, usually with flowers and trees growing in it, 
and in many patios there is a fountain. 

The big square below us is called the plaza. There 
every evening a band plays, and the people come to stroll 
about under the trees to visit together and chat. Such 
a plaza is to be found in every Mexican city. The people 
are fond of music and they spend much time out of doors. 

A little beyond the plaza we can see the business section 
of the city. The streets are wide and faced with fine stores. 
Here and there a line public building rises high above the 



456 NORTH AMERICA 

other structures, and we see many large theaters and 
churches and schools. Mexico city is lighted by electricity 
furnished by water power not far away. It has several 
thousand arc lights, and at night the streets are like day. 
There are trolley cars everywhere, and thousands of auto- 
mobiles and motor trucks. 

That long three-story building at the side of the plaza 
just below us is the national palace, where the Congress 
of Mexico sits, and where some of the officers of the govern- 
ment work. Mexico is a repubhc. It has a president 
and a congress. There are twenty-eight states, two terri- 
tories, and a federal district. It is in the national palace 
that the president has his offices, and in the same building 
also sit some of the cabinet officers. 

But let us go down from the cathedral and take a walk 
through the city. It is now high noon, and the streets 
are almost deserted. Everything closes here at midday. 
The Mexicans have their dinner between twelve and one, 
and after that they have a nap and a chat with their fami- 
lies before they go back to work. The business hours are 
from nine to twelve in the morning and from three to 
six in the afternoon. 

By seven o'clock most of the establishments are closed, 
and the evening is given up to rest or to pleasure. The 
poorer people go to the parks, and the richer drive out 
in their carriages and motor cars upon the Paseo de la 
Refomia (pa-sa'o da la ra-for'ma), past the great monu- 
ment to Mexico's independence. The concert halls and the 
theaters are alive with light, and nearly all the people 
seem to be enjoying themselves. Among the favorite 
amusements is bullfighting. This takes place in the bull- 
ring, where men upon horseback and on foot enrage a wild 
bull and kill him as he rushes at them and tries to gore them 




Independence Monument, Mexico, on the Paseo de la Reforma, 

the finest avenue of the city. It is built of granite and Italian marble, 

and cost twice as much as our Washington Monument. 

457 



458 



NORTH AMERICA 




Street peddlers in Mexico. The game cocks are put into the 
baskets head first so that they cannot peck each other. The corn- 
husks are sold to market-men for use as wrapping paper. 

with his horns. Many thousands of men and women go to 
see these fights, but the sport is cruel and would not be 
permitted in the United States. 

During our stay in the city we go out shopping and 
spend some time in the markets. The signs over the 
stores do not tell us what is sold within. A barber shop 
may be called La Perla, or ''The Pearl," and a candy 
store may have a sign that means "The White Cat." 
bne glove store is known as ''The Violets," and a grocery 
has over its front door "The Pearl of the Occident." We 
are interested in the places where hats are sold. The 
headgear is of all sorts, from caps and hats such as we 
wear to sombreros (som-bra'roz) , great hats as big around 
as a bicycle wheel, loaded with silver and gold and em- 
broidery, and with bands of gold braid around the crown. 



THE AZTECS AND THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY 459 

As we go along the streets we meet many peddlers. 
One of the strangest is a man selling game cocks, which 
he carries about on his back. Each cock is kept in a bas- 
ket so arranged that only his tail can be seen. These, 
birds like to fight one another, and if they could reach 
their heads out they would surely be pecking at every 
rooster near by. 

Other strange peddlers we meet are boys driving tur- 
keys which they sell, as it were, on the hoof. There are 
also men going about with loads of dried com husks on 
their backs. These are sold to the merchants, who use 
them as wrapping paper. Some kinds of cooked food, 
such as hot tamales (ta-ma'lez), are always wrapped up in 
corn husks. 

The markets of Mexico are excellent. They are to be 
found in every street and town. Many of them have all 
the fruits of the torrid and temperate zones. Here in 
Mexico city we can buy a pineapple as big as our heads 
for a few cents, and a half dozen juicy oranges for "a nickel. 



>>•?<: 



LXIX. THE AZTECS AND THE INDIANS OF 
TO-DAY 

ONE of the most interesting places in Mexico city is 
the National Museum. It has many relics of the 
Aztecs, the Indians who inhabited the country at the 
time it was conquered by the Spaniards under Hernando 
Cor'tes. The Aztecs had their capital where Mexico 
city now is. They were much more civilized than our 
Indians. Many of them had comfortable homes, and 
the king had great palaces beautifully furnished. 



46o NORTH AMERICA 

The Aztecs used picture writing instead of letters as we 
do. They made dyes, and were expert workers in metal. 
When Cortes landed he was given presents of vessels of 
gold, silver, and copper, and among them were silver 
plates as big around as a bicycle wheel. 

Cortes landed at Vera Cruz and sank his ships to show 
his soldiers they must conquer or die. He then made his 
way up to the plateau, fighting now and then with the 
Indians, and at last, in November, 15 19, he came to the 
capital. He made the Emperor Montezuma a prisoner, 
and after some terrible battles he was able to bring Mexico 
under Spanish rule. Spanish governors remained in con- 
trol for about three hundred years, when the Mexicans 
rose against Spain and decided to rule the country them- 
selves. They declared their independence, and formed 
a government of their own, which, with many revolutions 
and changes, has existed from that time to this. The 
government is now a republic somewhat like our own. 
The history of Mexico is interesting, and we decide to study 
it when we go home. 

The Spaniards practically enslaved the Indians, and 
many of the descendants of the ancient Aztecs and other 
tribes are little more than slaves to-day. The laws have 
been such that their employers have been able to keep 
them in debt, and for this reason they have been forced 
to work for very low wages, and kept pitiably poor. 

Of late years there have been many movements in 
Mexico to better these conditions, and it is hoped that the 
time will come when the large estates will be divided so 
that the poorer people can more easily have farms and 
homes of their own. Already there are schools in all the 
cities and towns, and also in many of the villages. Never- 
theless, a large proportion of the Mexicans can neither 



THE AZTECS AND THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY 461 

read nor write, and their condition is by no means as good 
as it should be. 

We see many Indians in Mexico city, and we shall see 
them everywhere as we travel over the country. The 
men dress in white cotton shirts and trousers, with their 
shirts outside their trousers. They do not wear stockings. 
Their feet are shod with sandals of leather, and they have 
broad-brimmed hats with crowns a foot high. Some of 
them have a red blanket which they throw about their 
shoulders. The women are usually barefooted and bare- 
headed. They wear dresses of white cotton, and often 
a shawl which is drawn over their heads and draped about 
their shoulders. 

The homes of the Indians are usually huts of mud or stone, 
but in the low wooded country they are made of sticks 
tied together and roofed with straw thatch. 

The farming in many parts of the country is very crude. 
The plow is often little more than a short stick, and it is 
only on the large estates that modem farm machinery is used. 

Indian corn is the chief food of the poorer Mexicans. 
Many of them do not know what bread is, and hundreds 
of thousands have never tasted wheat flour. The women 
often grind their own corn. We can see them outside 
their huts kneehng down before a rough slab of stone 
about a foot wide and eighteen inches in length. The 
grains of corn, having been soaked in lime water until 
they are soft, are laid upon this slab, and the women roll 
a round stone over them, mashing them into a paste or 
dough. This dough is formed by hand into a thick cake 
and is cooked upon a charcoal fire. So made it is known 
as a tortilla (tor-telVa). It is eaten with butter, and some- 
times seasoned with salt and red pepper. We taste one. 
It is not at all bad. 

CARP. N. AMER. — 28 



462 NORTH AMERICA 

There is , one dish that is well served in every house 
here. This is black beans, or, in the Mexican language, 
frijoles (fre-ho'las). It is not an uncommon thing to have 
frijoles at the close of a meal. The Mexicans make fine 
candies, and delicious chocolate is sold everywhere. 

LXX. WE CLIMB POPOCATEPETL — A VISIT TO 
THE OIL FIELDS 

DURING our stay in Mexico city we go out by rail- 
road to the town of Amecameca (a-ma-ka-ma'ka), 
at the foot of Popocatepetl. We have decided to cKmb 
the mighty volcano, and find Indian guides at the station 
as we come from the train. They give us long staffs shod 
with iron to keep us from faUing, and carry ropes with them 
to help us over the ice and snow. 

For the first few hours our way is through a pine forest. 
We then climb hills of volcanic rock, wading at times 
through loose, shifting black sand. It grows cooler as we 
rise, and the trees become smaller until at last we reach 
a region above which nothing grows, and pass over the 
line where from year's end to year's end the ice never 
melts. Just below this the snow is soft, but higher up 
it grows harder and harder. The air is colder and thinner. 
How our hearts beat! If we go too fast we feel faint and 
shaky. The glare of the sun on the snow dazzles our eyes, 
and our hands are torn from pulling ourselves from point 
to point over the ice. At last we reach the top and stand 
on the edge of the crater of one of the greatest volcanoes 
of North America. 

Popocatepetl is not now throwing stones, rock, and lava 
into the air. It is not in violent action, but it is always 



WE CLIMB POPOCATEPETL 



463 



vomiting fumes of sulphur, and we have to get to the 
windward of the yellow brimstone vapor which rises out 
of the great hole in the top of the mountain before we dare 
look down within. 

The crater is almost a mile wide at the top, and more 
then one thousand feet deep. The walls slope inward, 
and peeping over we see scores of Indians gathering the 




Crater Lake, Popocatepetl. The timbers are connected with a hoist 
over a bluff 200 feet high, for use in mining sulphur in the crater. 



464 NORTH AMERICA 

sulphur in bags and carrying it on ladders up to the top. 
From there it is slid down the mountain in a sort of a chute. 
The process of mining seems terribly hard in comparison 
with the way we saw sulphur taken out of the ground by 
machinery- at Freeport in Texas. 

Leaving the Mexican capital, we go by railroad to 
different parts of the country, visiting the principal cities 
and spending some time on the great haciendas (a-syen'das) 
where one may ride on horseback all day and not come to 
the end of a field or farm. We spend much time in the 
mountains exploring the mines of gold, silver, and copper, 
and near Durango (dob-rang'go) in the northern part of 
the plateau, we see a mountain of iron ore, now being used 
in making steel. 

We are delighted with Oaxaca (wa-ha'ka), a thriving 
town a little more than a day's ride by train south of 
Mexico city, and with Guadalajara (gwa-tha-la-ha ra) , 
a beautiful city not far from the Pacific coast. We go 
by railroad northward over the plateau to the great silver- 
mining towns of Guanajuato, Zacatecas (sa-ka-ta'kas), 
and Chihuahua (che-waVa), stopping on the way to visit 
the quarries where men are taking opals out of the rocks. 
We each buy one of these beautiful stones for less than a 
dollar. 

We visit also the towns of Monterey (mon-te-raO and 
San Luis Potosi (san-l6b-es'po-t6-seO on the Mexican 
national railway, and from the latter go over a branch 
line to the port of Tampico (tam-pe'ko), on the Mexican 
border. San Luis Potosi is the largest city of Mexico 
outside the capital, and Tampico is one of the chief oil 
ports of the world. 

The scenes near Tampico remind us of those we saw 
during our travels in Texas. There are huge oil tanks 



466 NORTH AMERICA 

outside the city, and in the country about is a forest of 
derricks, each standing above an oil well. Mexico is one 
of the most important oil countries of the world. For 
hundreds of miles along the Gulf of Mexico, running 
from Tampico almost to Vera Cruz, and in places still 
farther south, are great deposits of petroleum which have 
produced many, many million barrels of oil. The output 
in 19 19 alone was more than eighty milhon barrels, and 
at times the wells of the repubhc have yielded more than 
one million barrels in one day. 

Some of the largest oil wells of the world have been 
discovered in this region. One near Tampico, when the 
petroleum was struck, sent forth a stream of oil that rose 
to the height of four hundred feet and continued to pour 
forth petroleum at the rate of several thousand barrels 
an hour for three months before it could be controlled. The 
oil filled the air like a great mist. It covered the rivers 
and lakes for miles about, and thousands of cattle died 
of thirst because they would not drink the waters coated 
with petroleum. Some of the oil flowed out to the sea, and 
there was a greasy scum on the Gulf for several hundred 
miles along the coast. 

We find many oil refineries about Tampico, and in the 
harbor we see tank steamers taking on fuel oil, kerosene, 
and gasoline for shipment abroad. A great deal of the 
product goes to our country, much to Europe, and some 
to Panama and the ports of South America, Australia, 
and Asia. 

I. Locate Mexico city. Compare it with others of the world's 
loftiest capitals. Describe some of its features, especially the build- 
ings and streets. Contrast the midday scenes of an American city 
with those of a Mexican city. Take a xide through the Mexican 
capital and tell what you see. 



CENTRAL AMERICA 467 

2. Locate Mt. Popocatepetl and describe our trip there. Compare 
the process of mining sulphur in Mexico with that we saw at Free- 
port, Texas. What is a volcano? Name a famous volcano of Italy. 
Of Alaska. Of the Hawaiian Islands. 

3. What is the government of Mexico? Tell something about the 
history of Mexico. Who was Cortes? Montezuma? Who were the 
Aztecs? Describe the Indians of to-day. 

4. Where are the oil fields of Mexico? What is the chief oil port? 
How is the oil shipped to other countries? 

5. Locate the chief cities of Mexico, and tell something for which 
each is noted. 



LXXI. CENTRAL AMERICA — GENERAL VIEW 

FROM Tampico we steam along the coast to Vera 
Cruz, and thence go south by railway through Mex- 
ico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (ta-wan-ta-pek')- 
Here the width of North America is only a little over one 
hundred and twenty miles and the land is so low that it 
was once proposed to build a ship railway from coast to 
coast and transport great steamers from one ocean to the 
other upon it. It is doubtful whether this could have 
been done, and it is not necessary now that we have built 
the Panama Canal. There is, however, an ordinary rail- 
road across Tehuantepec, and good ports on each side. 
It is only one hundred and fifty miles long, and some of 
the trafhc between the Atlantic and Pacific is carried that 
way. The port on the Gulf side is Puerto Mexico and that 
on the Pacific side is Salina Cruz (sa-le'na kroos). This 
is the shortest railway across our continent except the 
one at Panama along the line of the canal. 

Through the southern part of the isthmus is the uncom- 
pleted Intercontinental Railway, which it is hoped some 



CENTRAL AMERICA 469 

day may form a continuous line through North and South 
America. When it is completed one may be able to go from 
Alaska to the Strait of Magellan by train. At present the 
northern part of the line stops in Guatemala (gwa-ta-ma'- 
la) , although many other parts of it are built farther south. 

We get on the cars and are soon across the border in one 
of the republics of Central America. 

Central America seems to be a small part of our conti- 
nent as we look at the map. It is not large as compared 
with all North America, but it has so much land that if it 
were patched together and dropped down in the United 
States it would more than cover Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, 
and Tennessee. The country is hke Mexico in that it has 
lowlands along the coasts, with highlands and mountains 
between. The lowlands are tropical, but the highlands 
are temperate, and there we find most of the large cities 
and most of the people. 

Central America is a land of republics. With the excep- 
tion of British Hondu'ras, which is a dependency of Great 
Britain, it is made up of six independent governments, 
modeled somewhat on the plan of the United States. 
Each country has its own president and congress elected 
by the people, and each is divided into states. 

The repubUcs are not very small. Guatemala at the 
north and Nicara'gua have each about the same area as 
New York; Honduras is larger than Tennessee; and Panama 
is as big as South Carolina. Costa Rica (kos'ta re'ka) 
is equal to four states as large as Connecticut, and Salvador 
(sal-va-dor') is the size of Maryland. 

Most of Central America is rich in resources. Its moun- 
tains have gold, silver, and copper, and on their slopes are 
plantations of coffee and cacao, and orchards of oranges 
and lemons. Coconuts and pineapples grow in the low- 



470 



NORTH AMERICA 



lands, and near the Gulf of Mexico are some of the richest 
banana lands of the world. We visit one of the banana 
plantations farther on in our travels. 




Schoolboys of Central America. The Spanish words on the slate 
mean "new art." 



Everywhere we go in our travels in Central America we 
meet many Indians. They remind us of the Indians we 
saw in Mexico. They do most of the work of the country. 
We see them on the coffee and sugar plantations, we buy 



A TRIP THROUGH GUATEMALA 471 

of them in the markets, and often pass them in the road- 
ways, carrying great loads on their backs. 

The population of Central America consists of the whites, 
the descendants of the Spaniards; the Mestizos (mes-te'- 
zoz), the descendants of Spaniards who intermarried with 
the Indians; and the pure Indians. By law all cla-sses of 
people have equal rights, and everyone is supposed to vote 
and to have a part in the government. All the republics 
(have free schools, and the people are advancing in civiliza- 
'tion and wealth. 



LXXII. A TRIP THROUGH GUATEMALA 

ENTERING the republic of Guatemala, we ride for 
many miles through the forests. The trees are trop- 
ical. We see many tall palms, some of which have great 
bunches of coconuts at the roots of the long leaves that 
sprout out from their trunks forty or fifty feet from the 
ground. We see rubber trees, and the trees that yield the 
chicle from which we get chewing gum. Now and then 
we pass a great mahogany, and there are other hardwood 
trees of large size, the names of which we do not know. 
Everywhere the forest is dense. The huge trees are bound 
together with vines, and thousands of beautiful orchids and 
other airplants hang from their branches. There are many 
bright-colored birds, and now and then a monkey gibbers 
at us out of the leaves. 

We are especially interested in the mahogany trees. 
Central America is one of the lands of mahogany, and much 
of our finest furniture is from the wood of these forests. 
Logs from the west coast are shipped south to the Panama 



472 NORTH AMERICA 

Canal and thence to our Atlantic ports. Those of the east 
coast, where the best forests are, go by ship to New Orleans 
or New York and from there to our chief furniture-making 
centers. 

During our trip through the country we watch men 
getting the mahogany out for the market. The lumbering 
is not done as in our country. There is no snow, and much 
of the wood is too heavy to float. The mahogany trees do 
not grow close together, but at long distances apart. The 
mahogany hunters climb the highest trees of the forest, 
and pick out the mahoganies by their bright-colored leaves. 
The trees grow to a great height, and not a few rise sixty 
feet above the ground before the branches begin. Some are 
so large that live men joining arms cannot reach around 
one of them. No trees are cut which are less than eight 
feet in circumference, and the men tell us a mahogany tree 
must be three centuries old before it is ready for lumber. 

In some places we see men tapping rubber trees. They 
cut out strips of bark the whole length of the trunk, and 
the latex, or rubber juice, which at first looks like milk, 
runs down into a bowl made at the roots. It makes us 
think of the turpentine farms we saw in our southern states. 
After the latex has been collected it is hardened by smoke 
into cakes for the market. 

Going on east through Guatemala, we soon reach the 
Central Railway, which takes us up to the plateau. We 
pass through orchards of cacao trees, from which we get 
chocolate, and plantations of coffee, which continue all 
the way to the highlands. The country is mountainous. 
We are in sight of volcanoes all the way up, and at Lake 
Amatitlan (a-ma-te-tlan ) the two mighty volcanoes of 
Agua (a'gwa) and Fuego (fwa'go), or Water and Fire, look 
down upon us. 




Picking coffee. Each ripe coffee berry is about the size and appear- 
ance of a cherry. The coffee we buy is the seeds in the berries. 



473 



474 NORTH AMERICA 

Continuing our trip, we are soon in Gautemala city, the 
capital of the country. It is one of the largest cities of 
Central America, although it has now less than one hundred 
thousand population. It is surrounded by volcanoes, and 
only a few years ago it had a terrible earthquake which de- 
stroyed many buildings and killed some of the people. 

Indeed, Guatemala city has always had to fight for its 
life with volcanoes. It was first located on the slope of 
Mount Agua, and earthquakes and the eruptions of that 
mountain destroyed it again and again, until the people 
moved the city about thirty miles distant to where it is 
now. That was about one hundred and fifty years ago, 
and the people thought they were safe until the last great 
earthquake occurred. 

To-day many of the structures destroyed then have been 
rebuilt, and no one would imagine that the city was one 
of the oldest towns of our hemisphere. The first capital of 
Guatemala was for a long time the chief Spanish city south 
of Mexico. It was a center of education, business, and 
culture before we had cities of any size in the United States. 
It had a cathedral and colleges when the boys of the Puritan 
Fathers were driving the cows along the paths which after- 
wards formed the streets of old Boston. 

We spend a short time in Guatemala city. It reminds us 
of the Mexican capital, and it is a fair type of the capitals 
of the Central American republics. The houses are built 
low on account of the earthquakes, and some of them cover 
a great deal of ground. They consist of tiers of buildings 
running around courts oi patios in which sometimes are 
gardens and fountains. They are painted in the brightest 
of colors, and their red tiled roofs shine out under the clear 
sun of the plateau. 

The city has many good school buildings, and when we 




One of the stone monuments erected by the ancient Mayas at 

Quirigua, Guatemala. The Mayas made records of dates and events 

by picture writing on monuments like this. 

475 



470 NORTH AMERICA 

visit them the children come out and go through a drill 
carrying American and Guatemalan flags in our honor. 
They sometimes meet us with flags at the stations, and 
seem glad to welcome us to Central America. 

Leaving Guatemala city by train, we ride across the 
plateau and down the mountains to Puerto Barrios (pwer'- 
to bar-re'os), passing through the ruins of Quirigua (ke- 
re gwa), which five hundred or a thousand years ago was 
one of the greatest cities of the ancient MaVas, a nation of 
Central American Indians. Some of its ruined temples 
have been cut out of the jungles, and the great stone mon- 
uments, covered with carvings which are still to be seen 
(page 475)1 show us that these people must have had a 
civilization much the same as that of the Aztecs of Mexico. 



»ejo 



LXXIII. THE BANANA INDUSTRY — FROM 
PUERTO BARRIOS TO BALBOA 

WE ride through great banana plantations in the low- 
lands of Guatemala on our way to Puerto Barrios, 
and we see bananas growing in other lowlands as we move 
down the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua to Limon (le- 
mon ) in Costa Rica. There are tens of thousands of acres of 
bananas not far from Limon, and other great tracts devoted 
to this fruit in the northern part of the republic of Panama. 
Indeed, Central America might be called Banana Land, 
for it produces more bananas than any other part of the 
world. Most of the bananas sold in the United States 
come from here. The principal plantations belong to one 
of our great fruit companies, which has steamers that sail 
weekly from New Orleans, New York, Boston, and other 



THE BANANA INDUSTRY 



477 



ports for Central America and come back loaded with 
bananas. A single ship will carry many thousands of 
bunches. It brings its cargo to our ports, and the bananas 
are unloaded by the aid of machines, and put in cold stor- 




Culting bananas. The fruit grows in huge bunches. It is cut green 
and ripens on its way to market. 

age cars to be shipped by the carload and sometimes the 
train] oad to different parts of the United States. The 
bananas sold in the stores near our homes probably came 
from Central America. 

During our stay at Limon we go by railway out through 



478 NORTH AMERICA 

the plantations, and ride for miles seeing nothing but ba- 
nanas on both sides of the track. The wide leaves brush 
against the car windows, and we can see the great bunches 
of green fruit hanging down from the tall stems on which 
they grow. All of the bananas are green, and we look in 
vain to find any ripe yellow fruit. The fruit is cut green, 
and allowed to ripen on its long trip to the markets. A 
single plant produces but one bunch of fruit, and a single 
bunch may have one hundred and fifty bananas upon it. 
So when we learn that the United States eats sixty million 
bunches of bananas every year, we get some idea of what 
an enormous business this is. 

From Limon we go by railroad to San Jose (san-ho-sa'), 
the fine little capital of Costa Rica, situated upon the pla- 
teau about midway between the two oceans, and thence 
make our way down over the mountains to the port of 
Punta Arenas (poon'ta a-ra'nas) on the Pacific. From 
there we sail north to Nicaragua, and take a train to Mana'- 
gua, the capital, not far from Lake Nicaragua. Through 
this lake a canal was once planned to cross Central 
America, but was given up when the Panama Canal was 
constructed. 

The route for this canal is low, and follows a river and 
the lake for most of the way across, so that engineers say 
a canal could easily be built. This canal, however, would 
have been one hundred and seventy miles long, or more 
than three times the length of the Panama Canal. 

From Managua we go northward by rail and then 
steamer to the Gulf of Fonseca (fon-sa'ka), and there 
get mules which take us to Tegucigalpa (ta-goo-se-gal'pa), 
the capital of Honduras. This city is far in the interior, 
but it is high and healthful and the people claim it is one 
of the best places in all North America. 



SALVADOR AND PANAMA 479 

Coming back, we make a short stay at San Salvador, 
the capital of the state of Salvador. Here is another fine 
town with many buildings, built low on account of the 
earthquakes by which the city has been almost destroyed 
several times in the past. Indeed all the Central Ameri- 
can capitals are much the same. They are Spanish towns 
like those we saw during our stay in Mexico. 

The trip from Salvador to Panama by steamer requires 
several days. We move slowly south along the dry, thirsty 
coast of the Pacific, comparing it with the wet tropical 
lowlands and dense vegetation along the Caribbean Sea. 
Now and then we pass a steamer from the Panama Canal 
going northward to San Francisco or Seattle, and finally 
we enter the great Gulf of Panama and come to anchor 
in the port of Balboa, at the Pacific end of the canal. 

We are now again under the flag of the United States. 
Old Glory floats above the public buildings and ware- 
houses, and we can see it flying also over the great hospital 
and hotels on Ancon Hill. A little farther to the east is 
the city of Panama, the capital of the Panama republic, 
and right in front is the entrance to the Panama Canal, 
through which our steamer is to climb over one of the low 
passes of the highland to the Caribbean Sea. 

We spend one day in visiting the capital of Panama. 
It is a beautifully situated city looking out on the gulf, 
with some of the old walls which were built to keep off the 
buccaneers and pirates still standing. The city has a large 
cathedral, a university, and some fine pubHc buildings. 
The streets are well paved. It has street cars and electric 
lights and all modem improvements. The president 
of the republic teUs us that his country has benefited 
greatly by the building of the canal, and that he hopes 
that our two peoples wiU always be friends. 

CARP. N. AMER. — 29 



THE PANAMA CANAL 481 



LXXIV. THE PANAMA CANAL — HOME TO NEW 

YORK 

WE begin this morning our last journey in Central 
America. We shall cross the North American 
continent where it is narrowest, by the Panama Canal, 
and then steam on to New York. We have now traveled 
through all the countries of the North American continent 
from Alaska to the Isthmus of Panama. We have gone 
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific in Canada, in the 
United States, in Mexico, and in the northern part of 
Central America. In some of these journeys the distance 
has been more than three thousand miles. The trip upon 
which we are starting to-day will be only about fifty 
miles — so short that an airplane could make it in a half 
hour or less. The time will be less than a day, but if it 
were not for the canal, and if we still wished to go all of 
the way by sea, it would take us more than a month to 
reach the other side of the continent. We should have to 
travel thousands of miles southward along western South 
America to the Strait of Magellan, steam through that 
strait a distance of two hundred miles into the Atlantic 
Ocean, and going northward should still have six or seven 
thousand miles more to travel before we could reach the 
port on the other side of the Isthmus. The difference in 
time would be more than one month, and the expense, 
notwithstanding heavy tolls charged by the canal, would 
be very much greater. 

The Isthmus of Panama is the narrow neck of land 
connecting North America and South America. It con- 
sists of a range of low mountains, the highest of which 
at this point are not so high as the tallest office buildings 



482 NORTH AMERICA 

of our larger cities. The Isthmus is so narrow that we 
could cross it by automobile in two or three hours, or upon 
foot in two days. Nevertheless, until August, 1914, 
this little strip of land acted as a mighty wall between the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, blocking the commerce of 
the world. Ships could come from either of the two oceans 
to the wall, but they had to travel thousands of miles out 
of their course to go from one side to the other. It took 
them many weeks to go by way of the Strait of Magel- 
lan or Cape Horn; and parts of Asia, Australia, South 
America, and Europe, so far as the sea routes between 
them were concerned, were thousands of miles farther 
apart than they are now. 

From time to time men planned to dig a waterway 
through the Isthmus, to make a short cut from ocean to 
ocean. The work was so great, however, that it was not 
until 1879 that any one dared to attempt it. At that time 
a French company, with plans made by Ferdinand de 
Lesseps', began the work. De Lesseps had already dug 
the canal through the Isthmus of Suez, which joined 
Africa and Asia, and he was thought to be just the man to 
cut through the Isthmus of Panama. 

But the French found that digging a ditch through a 
level desert of sand like that of the Isthmus of Suez was 
far different from cutting a canal through the Isthmus of 
Panama. In Panama a mountain had to be blasted down, 
vast amounts of earth and rock had to be moved out of 
the way, and mighty dams had to be built to control the 
floods. The French company began the work extrava- 
gantly, and had spent several hundred miUion dollars be- 
fore the French people became dissatisfied and would 
give no more money. After it failed, a new French com- 
pany sold its right to build the canal, including all the 



THE PANAMA CANAL 



483 



work that had been done, to our government for the sum 
of forty million dollars. 

When Colombia decHned to make a treaty confirming 
our right to build the canal, the province of Panama de- 
clared its independence. Then by treaty with Panama 
we acquired a strip of territory ten miles wide running 
from one side of the Isthmus to the other. This is called 
the Canal Zone, and 
through the middle 
of it we dug our 
great waterway . We 
used a little of the 
work done by the 
French, but had to 
do many times as 
much more and so 
changed the char- 
acter of the canal 
that it is an Ameri- 
can work through- 
out. 

The plans of 
Ferdinand de Les- 
seps proposed a sea- 




level canal, hke that at Suez. He tried to cut down the 
pass through the mountains to the level of the sea so that 
the two oceans could run together and vessels could steam 
right through from one to the other. These plans were 
found impossible by our engineers, and our canal is a lock 
canal, only about one third of it being on the level of the 
sea, and about two thirds, or over thirty miles, on a plane 
which is eighty-five feet above that level. At either end 
of the elevated portion are great locks by means of which 



484 NORTH AMERICA 

the ships are raised or lowered from one part of the canal 
to the other. Thus they sail as over a great water bridge 
from ocean to ocean. The locks are somewhat like those 
we saw in the Great Lakes. They might be called the 
steps on each side of the bridge. 

The elevated part of the canal has been made by cutting 
down and blasting out the earth and rock of the Gaillard 
Cut through the mountains, and also by damming the 
Chagres (cha'gres) River so that a lake has been formed 
at the level of 85 feet above the sea. The dam is known 
as the Gatun (ga-toon') Dam and the lake is Lake Gatun. 
It is the waters of Lake Gatun that flow through the pass, 
and fill the locks that raise and lower the ships. 

The locks are much more wonderful than those of the 
Great Lakes. Each lock is one thousand feet long and 
big enough to hold the largest ship afloat. The gates to 
the locks are of steel, and they comprise milhons of pieces 
so closely fitted together that they keep out the water. 
They are moved by machinery, whose motive power is 
electricity generated by the fall of the surplus waters of 
Gatun Lake at the dam. 

The story of building the canal is so wonderful that it 
would take a large book to describe it. Its cost all together 
was about three hundred and seventy-five milhons of 
dollars, and millions more were spent by the United States 
in building fortifications and in the purchase of rights, so 
that the sums appropriated for the canal by Congress have 
been almost a half biUion dollars. In this is included 
twenty-five million dollars given to Colombia in 192 1 to 
settle the claim of that country as former owner of the 
Isthmus. 

To-day the canal is well fortified along the line of the 
route, and also by the great military works on the islands 



THE PANAMA CANAL 485 

near the entrances from the Atlantic and the Pacific. Our 
government has a railroad running through the Canal 
Zone from one side of the Isthmus to the other, and we 
keep a large force of Americans in the Canal Zone to run 
this road, to operate the machinery of the canal, and to 
manage the docks, warehouses, coaHng stations, and other 
establishments at each end. We have great warehouses, 
ice plants, cold storage plants, hospitals, and hotels in the 
Canal Zone. We have water works and fuel oil tanks, and 
stores which contain everything needed by the ships that 
pass through. The people of the Canal Zone are under 
the rule of a governor appointed by the President. The 
civil population is not large, and the zone is kept as a 
military reservation upon which no private individuals 
or traders are permitted to settle or acquire land. 

The first great steamer to go through the canal was the 
Ancon, belonging to the United States government. It 
passed from one ocean to the other on August 15, 19 14, 
carrying the Secretary of War and two hundred other 
passengers. The time taken was nine hours. Now the 
average time of passage is seven or eight hours, and the 
shortest" passage has been four hours and ten minutes. 
It is estimated that thirty-six ships can pass through in 
one day, and within five years after the canal was opened 
over ten thousand vessels had passed through. 

Among the great difficulties in the construction of the 
canal were the fevers and other tropical diseases, which 
were so common when the Panama railroad was first built 
that it was said a man died for every tie laid in the track. 
Many thousands died while the French were at work, 
but during our building of the canal the death rate became 
lower than that of many large cities. This was due largely 
to Surgeon- General W. C. Gorgas, whose sanitation methods 



486 



NORTH AMERICA 



made the Canal Zone one of the most healthful parts of the 
world. The building of the canal during the greater part 
of its construction was under General George W. Goethals 
(go'thalz), a famous engineer of the United States Army. 
In our trip through the canal we leave Balboa in the 
morning and steam slowly up the wide channel which 
leads from the Pacific to the locks of Mirafiores (me-ra- 
flo'ras). Now we are inside the locks. The gates behind 
us have closed, and we can feel ourselves rising. The great 




Steamer in one of the locks in the Panama Canal. 



steamer is soon floating on the level of a second lock, in 
which we are hfted to Lake Mirafiores. Our ship is towed 
through the locks by electric locomotives which run along 
the walls on each side. We put on steam as we pass through 



THE PANAMA CANAL 487 

the lake, and then enter the lock of Pedro Miguel (pa'dro 
me-gel'), where the locomotives move us on to the Gaillard 
Cut. 

In the first two locks we have risen 55 feet, and in the 
third, 30 feet. In all we have been lifted 85 feet above 
the level of the two oceans, and we are now at just about 
the same height above that level as a roof of an eight- 
story building is above the ground. It is on this level 
that we steam on through the Gaillard Cut and enter Lake 
Gatun. The cut is nine miles in length, and the lake is 
twenty-four miles long. Winding our way across it, we 
come to the Gatun Dam, an immense structure which was 
erected between two mountains to hold back the waters 
of the Chagres River, which form the lake. We pass 
through the dam by a series of these locks, dropping from 
one to another as the waters are let out, and finally steam- 
ing out into a channel which leads to Limon Bay and the 
Atlantic Ocean. In our ride through the Canal we have 
gone all together a little more than forty miles, the distance 
from deep water in the Pacific Ocean to deep water in the 
Atlantic Ocean being just about fifty miles. 

As we look back over our trip we can easily understand 
what is meant by the saying that the Panama Canal is a 
fresh-water bridge connecting the salt waters of the Pacific 
and of the Atlantic. We tasted the water when we started 
from Balboa. It was salt and bitter. We drew up a bucket 
over the side of the steamer while we were in the locks of 
Miraflores. The water there was as fresh as our drinking 
water at home. It came from the mountains, and the same 
kind of water filled all the locks and Lake Gatun. It was 
this fresh water that raised us to the level of Gaillard Cut 
and kept the steamer afloat until we dropped down through 
the Gatun locks into the salt waters of the Atlantic. 



488 NORTH AMERICA 

The channel from Gatun locks to the Atlantic is only 
seven miles long. It takes us but a short time to steam 
through it to Cristobal (kris-to-bal^, which is our port at 
the Atlantic end of the Canal. We wait there but a few 
hours, and then the steamer starts out for New York. We 
cross Limon Bay and are soon in the wide Caribbean Sea. 
The weather now is dehghtful. The sun shines, and we 
get splendid snapshots of flying fish as they dart from 
wave to wave in front of our steamer. A day after leaving 
the canal we see the blue mountains of Jamaica on our 
right, and a little later we are steaming between Haiti and 
Cuba, going very close to Santiago, where our naval battle 
with the Spaniards was fought. 

The next islands we see are the Bahamas, on one of which 
Columbus first landed when he found the New World. 
After that we have only the ocean in view until we near 
the Atlantic coast of the United States at Sandy Hook. 
It is there that we stop for our pilot, who conducts the 
steamer through the channel in the entrance to New York 
harbor, taking us by Staten Island and the great Statue of 
Liberty to the wharves of New York. 

1. Where is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec? Compare its width 
with that of Panama along the hne of the canal. 

2. What is the Intercontinental Railway? 

3. Where is Central America? What body of water lies on the 
east? On the west? What country on the north? On the south? 

4. Compare Central America in size with four states of the United 
States. In surface with Mexico. Of how many countries does it 
consist? Compare each in size with one of our states. 

5. What are the chief products of Central America? Mineral? 
Agricultural? 

6. What Central American fruit product is most important to us? 
Where does it grow? Describe a visit to one of the plantations and 
tell how the fruit is grown and shipped to the United States. 

7. Visit a mahogany forest and compare the lumbering there with 



THE PANAMA CANAL \ 489 

that about Lake Superior. How is rubber obtained in Central 
America? In Brazil? (See Carpenter's "South America," pages 344- 
351, also Carpenter's "How the World is Clothed, pages 240- 
261). 

8. What are the capitals of Central America? Where is each lo- 
cated? Describe the buildings and tell why they are of only one or 
two stories. 

9. Through what Central American country other than Panama 
was it planned to build a canal? What was the length of the pro- 
posed canal? Where was it planned to build a ship railway? 

10. At what port of the Pacific do we arrive in coming to Panama? 
After whom was it named? Tell all you can about him. (See Car- 
penter's "South America," page 27.) What great discovery did 
he make? 

11. How long is the Panama Canal? Why is it called a water 
bridge? What did it cost? Compare the Panama Canal with the 
Sault Ste. Mary's Canal. With the Suez Canal. (See Carpenter's 
"Africa.") 

12. Take five trips from New York through the canal to an im- 
portant port of another continent, and show the saving by way of 
the canal. Describe your trip in each case. 

13. Describe your journey through the canal. What important 
cities are at each end of it? 



TABLES 



Table I. Area of Continents and Oceans 



Asia 


10 2 


MILLl 
3 


ONS OF . 
4 


QUARE 
5 


^ILES 
6 


7 


80 

I", 


Africa 


^^^M 1 














_11, 


North America.. 
South America.. 


^^^ 














9, 


^^B 














6, 


^_ 














5, 


Europe 


^ 














3, 


^ 














3, 


Pacific Ocean. _ 
Atlnnti> Ocean 




^^^^ 




^^^^_ 






L 


76 




^^5 


^^^ 








34, 


Indian Ocean 

Arctic Ocean 

Antarctic Ocean.. 




^__ 












28 


■» 







— - 









4 

. _.2 




^^ 

















,000,000 
,517,000 
,392,000 
,856,000 
,000,000 
,864,000 
,457,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,700,000 



Table II. Area of North American Countries 



Canada-. 



THOUSANDS OF SOtTARE MfLE'S 

100 200 300 400 500 600 

I I I I I I 



700 



United States- _- 
and Alaska 



Mexico 

Newfoundland 
and Labrador. _ 

Nicaragua 

Guatemala 

Honduras 

Panama 

Costa Rica 

Salvador 



800 



i 



.3,679, 

__767, 



491 



492 



NORTH AMERICA 



Table III. Population of North American Countries 



UTnited States 
and Alaska — 
Mexico - 

Canada 

Guatemala- 
Salvador.. _ 



Nicaragua 

Honduras.^ L 

Costa Rica _- 
Panama 



20 



MILLIONS 

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 



—105,765,000 
—15,501,000 

8,788,000 

2,003,579 

__ -1,298,621 

746,000 

605,997 

459,423 

336.742 



Newfoundland— I 243,000 

and Labrador ' ' 

Table IV. Area and Population of the States of the United States 



Northeastern States 

Maine 

Vermont 

New Hampshire 

Massachusetts 

Connecticut 

Rhode Island 

Middle Atlantic States 

New York 

Pennsylvania 

New Jersey 

South Atlantic States 

Georgia 

Florida 

North Carolina 

Virginia 

South Carolina 

West Virginia 

Maryland 

Delaware 

District of Columbia. 
South Central States 

Texas 

Oklahoma 

Arkansas 

Alabama 

Louisiana 

Mississippi 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 



Area (Sq. Mi.) 


Population (1920) 


33,040 


768^014 


9,564 


352,428 


9,341 


443,083 


8,266 


3,852,356 


4,965 


1,380,631 


1,248 


604,397 


49,204 


10,385,227 


45,126 


8,720,017 


8,224 


3,155,900 


59,265 


2,895,832 


58,666 


968,470 


52,426 


2,559,123 


42,627 


2,309,187 


30,989 


1,683,724 


24,170 


1,463,701 


12,327 


1,449,661 


2,370 


223,003 


70 


437,571 


265,896 


4,663,228 


70,057 


2,028,283 


53,335 


1,752,204 


51,998 


2,348,174 


48,506 


1,798,509 


46,865 


1,790,618 


42,022 


2,337,885 


40,598 


2,416,630 



TABLES 

Table IV {Continued) 



493 



North Central States 

Minnesota 

Kansas 

South Dakota. . . 

Nebraska 

North Dakota.. . . 

Missouri 

Michigan 

Illinois 

Iowa 

Wisconsin 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Plateau States 

Montana 

New Mexico .... 

Arizona 

Nevada 

Colorado 

Wyoming 

Utah 

Idaho 

Pacific States 

California 

Oregon 

Washington 

Alaska 



Area (Sq. Mr.) 



84,682 
82,158 
77,615 
77,520 
70,837 
69,420 
57,980 
56,665 
56,147 
56,066 
41,040 
36,354 

146,997 

122,634 

113,956 

110,690 

103,948 

97,914 

84,990 

83,888 

158,297 
96,699 
69,127 

590,884 



POPUL.'^TION (1920) 



2,387,125 
1,769,257 

636,547 
1,296,372 

646,872 
3,404,055 
3,668,412 
6,485,280 
2,404,021 
2,632,067 

5,759,394 
2,930,390 

548,889 
360,350 
334,162 
77,407 
939,629 
194,402 
449,396 
431,866 

3,426,861 

783,389 
1,356,621 

54,899 



Table V. Area and Population of the Provinces of Canada 



Province 



Area (Sq. Mi.) 



Pop. (1920) 



Northwest Territories . 

Quebec 

Ontario 

British Columbia 

Alberta 

Manitoba 

Saskatchewan 

Yukon Territory 

New Brunswick 

Nova Scotia 

Prince Edward Island 



1,272,000 
706,834 
407,262 
355,855 
255,285 
251,832 
251,700 
207,000 

27,985 

21,428 

2,184 



2,361,199 
2,933,662 
524,582 
588,454 
610,118 
757,510 
4,157 
387,876 

523,837 
88,'6i5 



494 



NORTH AMERICA 



Table VI. Population of Large Cities of North America 



The United States 

Akron, Ohio 208,435 

Albany, N. Y ii3,344 

Atlanta, Ga 200,616 

Baltimore, Md 733,826 

Birmingham, Ala 178,806 

Boston, Mass 748,060 

Bridgeport, Conn i43»555 

Buffalo, N. Y 506,775 

Cambridge, Mass 109,694 

Camden, N. J 116,309 

Chicago, 111 2,701,705 

Cincinnati, Ohio 401,247 

Cleveland, Ohio 796,841 

Columbus, Ohio 237,031 

Dallas, Texas 158,976 

Dayton, Ohio 152,559 

Denver, Colo 256,491 

Des Moines, Iowa 126,468 

Detroit, Mich 993,678 

Duluth, Minn 98,917 

Elizabeth, N. J 95,783 

Erie, Pa 93,372 

Fall River, Mass 120,485 

Flint, Mich 91, 599 

Fort Worth, Tex. ._ 106,482 

Grand Rapids, Mich 137,634 

Hartford, Conn 138,036 

Houston, Tex 138,276 

Indianapolis, Ind 314,194 

Jacksonville, Fla 91,558 

Jersey City, N. J 298,103 

Kansas City, Kans 101,177 

Kansas City, Mo 324,410 

Lawrence, Mass 94,270 

Los Angeles, Calif 576,673 

Louisville, Ky. 234,891 

Lowell, Mass 112,759 

Lynn, Mass 99,148 

Memphis, Tenn 162,351 

Milwaukee, Wis 457,147 

Minneapolis, Minn 380,582 

Nashville, Tenn 118,342 

Newark, N. J 414,524 

New Bedford, Mass 121,217 

New Haven, Conn 162,537 



New Orleans, La 


■ • 387,219 


New York, N. Y 


. .5,620,048 


Norfolk, Va 


• • 115,777 


Oakland, Calif 


216,261 


Oklahoma City, Okla. . . 


91,29s 


Omaha, Nebr 


. . 191,601 


Paterson, N. J 


• • 135,875 


Philadelphia, Pa 


• -1,823,779 


Pittsburgh, Pa 


• 588,343 


Portland, Oregon 


. . 258,288 


Providence, R. I 


■ • 237,595 


Reading, Pa 


■ • 107,784 


Richmond, Va 


171,667 


Rochester, N. Y 


• ■ 295,750 


St. Louis, Mo 


• 772,897 


St. Paul, Minn 


. . 234,698 


Salt Lake City, Utah. . . 


118,110 


San Antonio, Tex 


■ • 161,379 


San Francisco, Calif. . . . 


. . 506,676 


Scranton, Pa 


• • 137,783 


Seattle, Wash 


•■ 315,312 


Somerville, Mass 


93,091 


Spokane, Wash 


• • 104,437 


Springfield, Mass 


. . 129,614 


Syracuse, N. Y 


. . 171,717 


Tacoma, Wash 


96,965 


Toledo, Ohio 


• . 243,164 


Trenton, N. J 


. . 119,289 


Utica, N. Y 


• ■ 94,156 


Washington, D. C 


•• 437,571 


Wilmington, Del 


. . 110,168 


Worcester, Mass 


• • 179,754 


Yonkers, N. Y 


. 100,176 


Youngstown, Ohio 


• . 132,358 


Other Countri 


es 


Montreal, Canada 


. 618,506 


Toronto, Canada 


• • 521,893 


Winnipeg, Canada 


• ■ 179,089 


Vancouver, Canada 


. . 117,217 


Ottawa, Canada 


• ■ 107,843 


Mexico, Mexico 


. 1,080,000 


Guadalajara, Mexico. . . 


119,468 


1 Puebla, Mexico 


96,121 


1 Guatemala, Guatemala . 


90,000 


San Salvador, Salvador . 


80,000 


Panama, Panama 


62,000 



TABLES 



495 



Table VII. High Mountains 



FEET 

30,000- 



25,000 

20,000-- 
15,000- 
10,000- 



Sea Level. 



.§- ._,c.-. 



-So -^ -^ 

.-- w w 



■2__ 

I 



^5 p 

73 o 

If If 

lid 



Table VIII. Important Rivers 





Length, 
Miles 




Length, 
Miles 


North America 
•\thabasca 


765 

1,400 

1,400 

375 

350 

450 

2,400 

4,200 

950 

1,260 

1,065 

450 

1,200 

1,800 

2,150 

I 205 


Yellowstone 


I 100 


Colorado 


Yukon 


2,000 


Columbia . 


Kuskokwim 

Other Continents 
Amazon. 


700 


Delaware 

Hudson 

James 

Mackenzie 

Missouri-Mississippi. . . . 

Ohio 

Platte 

Peace 

Potomac 

Red. 


3,500 
1,700 
1,500 
2,800 
2,800 
3,900 
1,500 
2,500 
2,300 
3,100 


Danube 

Ganges 

Hwang 

Kongo 

Nile 

Orinoco 

Plata-Parana 


Rio Grande 

St. Lawrence .... 


Volga 

Yangtze 

Zambezi. 


Saskatchewan. 


2,200 











CARP. N. AMER. .30 



496 



NORTH AMERICA 



Table IX. Water Powers of the World 



United States 

Canada 

Norway 

Sweden 

France 

Italy 

Spain 

Finland 

Switzerland. . 
Germany. . . . 
Great Britain 



Available 
H. P. 



55,000,000 
18,000,000 
7,500,000 
6,750,000 
5,857,000 
5,500,000 
5,000,000 
3,000,000 
1,500,000 
1,425,000 
963,000 



Developed 
H. P. 



4,100,000 
1,300,000 
920,000 
550,000 
650,000 
565,000 
300,000 

380,000 

445,000 

80,000 



Table X. Sailing Distances from New 
Francisco, to Principal Ports and 



York, New Orleans, San 
Cities of the World 



Port 



Aden 

Antwerp ,. . . . 

Bombay 

Buenos Aires 

Calcutta.. 

Cape Town 

Colon (eastern end of 
Panam.a Canal). . . 

Copenhagen 

Gibraltar 

Hamburg 

Havre 



Route 



Suez Canal 

Suez and Panama 

Singapore 

(Direct) 

Panama 

Suez Canal 

Suez and Panama 

Singa})ore 

Singapore and Panama 

(Direct) 

Magellan Strait 

Suez Canal 

Singapore 

Singapore and Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Canal and Panama . . . 

(Direct) 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

New York 

(Direct) 

New York 



N. Y. 


N. Orl. 


6,532 


7,870 


3,325 


4,853 


8,120 


9,536 


14,837 
5,868 


14,236 
6,318 


9,830 


11,239 


14,230 
6,815 


13,694 
7,374 


1,981 


1,380 


3,852 
3,207 


5,443 
4,576 


3,652 


5,243 


3,169 


4,760 

.... 1 



San 
Fran. 



10,800 
11,500 

8,264 

12,512 
9,780 



7,511 
8,990 

9,898 
3,324 

7,642 

6,843 
6,360 



TABLES 



497 



Table X. Sailing Distances, etc. — Continued 



Port 



Hongkong. 



Liverpool , 



London. 
Manila . 



Marseille . 
Melbourne . 



New Orleans. 



New York 
Petrograd. 



Port Said, Egypt.. 
Rio de Janeiro. . . . 



San Francisco. 
Shanghai 



Singapore. 



Sitka, Alaska. 
Valparaiso. . . 



Vladivostok 



Wellington, New Zea- 
land 



Yokohama . 



Route 



(Direct) 

Panama 

Suez 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Yokohama 

Panama 

Suez 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

Suez Canal 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

New York 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

Suez 

(Direct) 

Suez 

Yokohama and Panama. 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

(Direct) 

San Francisco & Panama 

(Direct) 

Panama 

Suez 

(Direct) 

Honolulu and Panama. . . 



N. Y. 



11,431 
11,610 

3,053 



2»2i2, 



11,546 

11,556 

3,876 



10,028 

12,981 

1,738 



4,632 

5,122 

4,778 

5,262 

10,855 
12,360 

10,170 
13,104 

6,607 
4,637 



8,540 
14,230 



N. Orl, 



10,830 
12,892 

4,553 

4,507 



10,993 

12,946 

5,266 



9,427 
14,303 



6,223 

6,509 
5,218 
4,687 



10,254 
13,750 

11,560 
12,503 

6,006 

4,035 
9,410 

7,939 
15,620 



10,093 9,492 



498 



NORTH AMERICA 



Table XI. Distances by Rail Between Cities of the United States 



From 



To: 



New York 


New Orleans 


San Francisco 


876 


496 


2,810 


188 


1,184 


3,081 


235 


1,607 


3,313 


442 


1,275 


2,804 


739 


776 


3,119 


847 


491 


2,672 


912 


912 


2,279 


757 


829 


2,377 


584 


1,092 


2,636 


637 


945 


2,593 


1,769 


51S 


1,932 


1,930 


1,357 


1,376 


1,270 


1,044 


1,931 


693 


1,100 


2,551 


1,391 


1,391 


2,243 


2,310 


1,195 


1,287 


1,782 


410 


2,157 


2,452 


2,152 


1,255 


825 


888 


2,462 


983 


616 


3,098 


1,342 


880 


1,986 


1,454 


1,087 


3,569 


1,290 


487 


2,291 


3,149 


2,007 


475 


871 


778 


2,473 


1,157 


396 


2,439 


997 


997 


2,364 


1,332 


1,285 


2,101 


1,231 


141 


2,623 


1,372 




2,482 




1,372 


3,191 


347 


1,093 


3,247 


i,6c8 


752 


1,994 


1,405 


1,080 


1,786 


91 


1,281 


3,100 


444 


1,142 


2,747 


350 


1,722 


3,428 


3,204 


2,746 


722 


1,322 


1,275 


2,091 


1,065 


699 


2,199 


2,442 


1,928 


823 


1,943 


571 


1,911 


3,231 


2,o8S 


602 


3,191 


2,482 




2,211 


1,351 


1,286 


1,036 


1,399 


2,581 


845 


661 


3,104 


3,151 


2,931 


957 


1,422 


1,173 


1,821 


3,199 


2,890 


916 


705 


1,040 


2,523 


228 


1,144 


3,069 



Atlanta, Ga 

Baltimore, Md.. 

Boston, Mass 

Bufifalo, N. Y 

Charleston, S. C 

Chattanooga, Tenn.. . . 

Chicago, III 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

Cleveland, Ohio 

Columbus, Ohio 

Dallas, Tex 

Denver, Col 

Des Moines, Iowa 

Detroit, Mich 

Duluth, Minn 

El Paso, Tex 

Galveston, Tex 

Helena, Mont 

Indianapolis, Ind 

Jacksonville, Fla 

Kansas City, Mo 

Key West, Fla 

Little Rock, Ark 

Los Angeles, Calif 

Louisville, Ky 

Memphis, Tenn 

Milwaukee, Wis 

Minneapolis, Minn.. . . 

Mobile, Ala 

New Orleans, La 

New York, N.Y 

Norfolk, Va 

Oklahoma, Okla 

Omaha, Nebr 

Philadelphia, Pa 

Pittsburgh, Pa 

Portland, JNIaine 

Portland, Oregon 

St. Paul, Minn 

St. Louis, Mo 

Salt Lake City, Utah . . 

San Antonio, Tex 

San Diego, Calif 

San Francisco, Cahi.. . 

Sante Fe, N. Mex 

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. 

Savannah, Ga 

Seattle, Wash 

Sioux City, Iowa 

Tacoma, V/ash 

Toledo, Ohio 

Washington, D. C 



TABLES 



499 



Table XII. Principal Countries Producing Gold 



MILLIONS OF DOLLARS 

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100 120 140 160 180 200 



Africa 

United States- 
Australasia- _ 

Mexico 

Canada 



■L 



..$197,000,000 
—69,000,000 
__29,000,000 
__17,000,000 
—15,000,000 



Table XIII. Principal Countries Producing Silver 



MILLIONS OF OUNCES, TROY 

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 


Mexico 






_ 


"" 


Canada 




^^^^1^ 
















L 


J 


r " 








Peru 






Australasia. 




^ 








] 




Japan„ 


^^_ 







1 

i 


1 


:::::: 




Bolivia & Chile 

Spain & PortugaL. 


r_l"_ 


.. 



.€7,200,000 
.62,400,000 
21,600.000 
.10,800,000 
. 9,600,000 
-6,600,000 
. 4,320,000 
- 3,120,000 



Table XIV. Principal Countries Producing Iron 



United States 
Germany 
United Kingdom 
Russia (1916). 
France 
Canada - 
Czechoslovakia. 
Sweden . 



MILLIONS OF METRIC TONS 
10 20 



30 



' ' 

kingdom -- ^^^^ ^^^W- - 

1916) ^mi 

lovakia — M 



.39,080,000 
11,758,000 
.9,184,000 
_ 3,733,000 
_ 1,297,000 
. 1,083,000 
_. 979,346 
...749,000 



Table XV. Principal Countries Producing Coal 



100 



MILLIONS OF SHORT TONS 

200 300 400 500 



600 



United States 








^^^^ 


^^^^ 




^^_ 


678 000,000 













r 


2i-4,000,000 

255,000,000 

.._ ... 63,000,000 


United Kingdom . . 
Poland 




^^~~ 


*" 






_l 










L 




33,000.000 


France 

Japan 

Russia 

Belgium _ _ 


^ 














31,800,000 


■ 














.. 30 000,000 


■ 

I 














20,000,000 

15,000.000 



500 



NORTH AMERICA 



Table XVI. Principal Countries Producing Copper 



100 



United State3_ 

Chile 

Japan 

Mexico 

Canada 

Spain 

Peru 

Germany 

Australasia 

Belgian Kongo^ 
Russia 



THOUSANDS OF TONS 

200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 



-954.000 
_126,000 
-.96,000 
_ -77,000 
_-59,00O 
. 50,000 
. .49,000 
-.44,000 
._44,000 
.J2,000 
..19.000 



Table XVII. Principal Countries Producing Petroleum 



United States 

Mexico 

Russia 

Dutch East Indies. 
Roumania 



f 



5P 



MILLIONS OF BARRELS 

100 150 200 250 



300 



350 



.355,927,000 
..63,828,000 
_ 40,456,000 
..13,285,000 
- -8,730.000 



Table XVIII. Principal Countries Raising Sheep 



( 


MILLIONS 

) 25 50 7 


5 1 

1. 


DO 


TTnil-fxl Sfatpa 










Argentina 


















European Russia -- 
United Kingdom — 

New Zealand 

India 


























^^^^^hI 


-- J 








1 1 









76.869.000 
49,863,000 
43,225,000 
38,696,000 
37,240,000 
27,063,000 
26,538,000 
23,016.000 



Table XIX. Principal Countries Raising Cattle 



India (including 
domestic buffaloes') 
United States 
Russia 
Argentina 
Germany 

Asiatic Russia 

France 

United Kingdom- - 



MILLIONS 

50 75 




TABLES 



501 



Table XX. Principal Countioes Producing Wheat 



MILLIONS OF BUSHELS 

200 300 



500 



600 




United States 

Russia 

India 

France. 

Canada 

Italy 

Argentina 

Hungary 

Germany 

Spain 

United Kingdom. 



Table XXI. Principal Countries Producing Corn 



( 

United States 


) 5-C 


30 TO 


MILLIONS OF BUSHE'LS 
00 ISpO 20 


00 25,00 3000 


^ 










' 


170 000.000 


Hungary. 


^ 













_ _ 168.000,000* 


Roumania 

India 















100,000,000* 

. 93,OCO,000 


Italy.. _ ___ 






J 










79,0C0,00O 


Mexico 








76,000,000 


Fgyrt 














64,000,000 


Russia . 


















. ... 56.000,000 




r " 







* Production before the World War 



Table XXII. Principal Countries Producing Rice 




BILLIONS OF POUNDS 
20 30 40 



India . 

Japan 

China 

Java 

Siam_ 

Korea 

Philippines 

Formosa 

Madagascar 

United States.. 



50 



60 



55,361,000,000 
.17,184,000,000 
-7,500,000,000 
-7,349,000,000 
-6,511,000,000 
- 3,936,000,000 

2,209,000,000 

1,460,000,000 
1,405.000,000 
,1,223,000.000 



502 NORTH AMERICA 

Table XXIII. Principal Countries Producing Beet Sugar 



250 



THOUSANDS OF TONS 

500 750 1000 



1250 



Germany 

Russia 

United States-. 

Holland 

Denmark 



s 



1,318,000 
1,134,000 
,..761,000 
-182,000 
.-156.000 



Table XXIV. Principal Countries Producing Cant: Sugar 



( 

Cuba 

India 

Java 

Hawaii 


) 


Ml 


LLIONS OF TOr 


s 

1 ^ 




^^^^^^ 




2, 




_..^_ 


^■■H- — 


^^^ 


^IIIZZZ] 











Africa 

Porto Rico 


^:::: 










p" 






::-_-_-_-_-j 






Peru 










r^ 






r "T 





000 
1,960,000 
577,000 
458,000 
363,000 
303,000 
288,000 
277,000 
245.000 



Table XXV. Principal Countries Producing . Cotton 

1 2 



Peru 




United Slates 

India 

Egypt 

Russia 

Brazil 



MILLIONS OF BALES 

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1,1 1,2 13 14 15 



.J14,000,000 
_ _4,000,000 
_ -2,500,000 
_-l,000,000 
__ 500,000 

. 300,000 

— 200,000 



Table XXVI. Principal Countries Manufacturing Cotton 



MILLIONS OF SPINDLES 

20 30 40 



60 



Great Britain --. 
Europe(continental) 
United States-. 
India 



. 55.576,000 
.43,400,000 
30,500,000 
..6,400.000 



INDEX 

Markings : a in late, a in senate, a in fat, a in care, a in far, a in last; e in 
me, e in return, e in met, e in term; i in fine, i in tin; N = ng in its effect (nasal) 
on the preceding vowel, but is not itself sounded; 6 in note, 6 in obey, 6 in not, 6 
in for, oo in school, oo in wool; th in thine; u in tune, u in nut, u in burn. 



Adams, John, 22, 29 
Adams, Mt., in, 386 
Adirondack (ad-i-ron'dak) Mts., 438 
Agassiz (ag'a-se), Lake, 233 
Airplanes, 13, 273, 306 
Akron (ak'run), 303-305 
Alaska, 403-418 — animals, 405; climate, 
405; coastline, 403; experiment farms, 
417; fishing, 408; furs, 408; Indians, 
411-412; Kenai (ke-nl') Peninsula, 
409; midnight sun, 407; minerals, 
408; Norton Sound, 416; petroleum, 
204; purchase, 408; railways, 405, 
408, 409, 416; reindeer, 51, 414; rivers, 
403-405; size, 403 
Alber'ta, 425 

Aleutian (a-lu'shan) Is., 403, 405, 410 
Alligators, 164, 168 
Almonds, 370 

Aluminum, manufacture of, 281, 301 
Amatitlan (a-ma-te-tlan'), Lake, 472 
Amecameca (a-ma-ka-ma'ka) , 462 
American Red Cross, 39 
Ammunition factories, 108 
Appalachian (ap-a-lach'i-an) Mts., 16, 

18, 55, 63, 75, 97, 109, 126, 154 
Apples — in CaHfornia, 369; in Canada, 
432; in New York state, 273; in 
Pacific Northwest, 386, 396 
•Arctic (ark'tik) Ocean, 411, 426, 427 
Arlington Cemetery, 26 
Arrowrock Dam, 364 
Asbestos, 154 
Asphalt, 207 

Atlantic Intra-Coastal Waterway, 115 
Atlantic Ocean, 55, 65, 75, 152-154 
Automobile industry, 267 
A'very Island, 192 



Baker, Mt., 393, 431 

Bahama (ba-ha'ma) Is., 488 

Balbo'a, 479 

Baltimore (bol'ti-mor), 55-61 

Bamboo, 450 

Bananas — Central America, 469, 

476-478; imports of, 56; Mexico, 446, 

451 
Baranof (ba-ra'nof) Island, 408 
Bauxite, 154 
Bering Sea, 410 
Bering Strait, 15, 403 
Berkeley (burk'li), Calif., 381 
Birds, in U. S., 164; reservations, 190 
Bir'mingham, Ala., 154 
Boise (boi'za), 322, 364 
Boston, 104, 105, 1 15-123; commerce, 

115, 1 1 7-1 18; Commonwealth Avenue, 

118; industries, 117; North Church, 

121, parks, 1 1 7-1 18; population, 117; 

railways, 117; statehouse, 117; "tea 

party," i 20-1 21 
Brandywine, battle of, 61 
Brass, 103 
Bridgeport, 105, 108 
British Columbia, 425; minerals, 432-433 
Brockton, 102 
Buffalo, 266, 272-273 
Bunker Hill, 120 
Burr. Aaron, 80 
Butte (but), 322 
Buttons, 103 

Cabot (kab'ut), John, 97 

Cacao (ca-ca'6). Central America, 469, 

472; Mexico, 446 
Cairo (ka'ro), Illinois, 214 
Cal'gary, 433 



503 



504 



NORTH AMERICA 



California, 367-382; Chinese and 
Japanese, 381 

Cal'umet, Michigan, 249 

Cameras, 273 

Canada, 418-443; coastline, 423; 
government, 437; climate, 423; 
commerce, 423; conquest by British, 
440; maritime provinces, 425, 442; 
minerals, 423; parliament, 436-437; 
rivers, 422; winter sports, 438-439 

Canning clubs, 53, 231 

Canton, Ohio, 305 

Cape Charles, 127 

Cape Cod Canal, 115 

Carbide, 281 

Carborundum, 281 

Caribbe'an Sea, 488 

Carpets, 62 

Cascade Mts., 383 

Cash registers, 306 

Cattle, 52, 189; clubs, 53; Mexican, 
448. See also Meat packing 

Central America, 467-489; minerals, 469 

Chagres (cha'gres) River, 484 

Charleston, S. C, 155-156, 185 

Chemicals, manufacture of, 63 

Ches'apeake Bay, 55, 58, 61, 127, 129 

Chicago (shi-ko'go), 266, 307-318; 
history, 308; stock yards, 314; streets, 
313; trade, 308; underground tunnels, 
309; water supply 309 

Chicle (chik"l), 471 

Chihuahua (che-wa'wa), 464 

Chocolate, 117; see Cacao 

Cincinnati (sin-si-nat'i), 306 

Cleveland, 266, 269 

Clocks, 103 

Coal, 18, 51, 55, 56, 65, 76, 126, 154; 
anthracite, 283, 287-289; bituminous, 
283, 290; Canada, 432; discovery of, 
in U. S., 285; exports, 129; Penn- 
sylvania fields, 283-291; reserves of 
world, 286-287; shipping on Missis- 
sippi River, 215; safety laws for 
mining, 291 

Coconuts, 56, 168, 450, 469, 471 

Coffee, 105, 446, 451, 469, 472 

Coke, 293; by-products, 293-294 

Colorado (kol-o-ra'do) River, 328 

Columbia River, 386-3S8 



Columbus, Christopher, 97, 488 

Columbus, Ohio, 305 

Commerce — Atlantic seaports, 56, 65, 
80-95, 104-106, 115; Canadian, 423; 
Department of, 49-50; Great Lakes, 
259, 318; New Orleans, 173-174; 
177-179; Pacific seaports, 374, 378, 
386, 391-392, 430, 431; St. Lawrence 
River, 438 

Connecticut River, loi 

Constitution of U. S., 65 

Continental Congress, 65, 67 

Copper — Alaska, 349, 408, 409; Canada, 
423, 432; Central Ainerica, 469; dis- 
covery of Lake Superior deposits, 249; 
distribution in U. S., 349; Mexico, 
448; Michigan. 249; Montana, 346- 
349; uses of, 347-349 

Cordova (kor'do-va), 409 

Cork, 301 

Corn, 56, 126, 224-232; corn clubs, 53, 
230-231; by-products, 226; corn belt 
323; Mexico, 446 

Cortes (kor'tes), Hernando, 459 

Costa Rica (kos'tare'ka), 469, 478 

Cotton — California and Arizona, 139; 
cotton clubs, 53; cottonseed oil, 146; 
exports, 86, 151, 171, 173, 178-179; 
ginning, 144-145; manufacturing, 55, 
62, loi, 102, 146-152; Mexican, 446; 
production in U. S., 139-146 

Crater Lake, 328-329 

Cristobal (kres-tO-bal') , 488 

Cuyahoga (ki-a-ho'ga) River, 269 

Dalles (dalz). The, 388 

Dates, 360-361 

Dawson, 418, 426 

Dayton, 306 

Death Valley, 369 

Declaration of Independence, 65, 77 

Delaware Bay, 65 

Delaware River, 62, 65, 72 

de Lesseps (de le-seps'), Ferdinand, 482 

Denver, 65, 322, 323-324 

Detroit (de-troit'), 265-267 

Douglas (dug'las) Island, 408 

Duluth (doo-looth), 242, 266 

Durango (doo-ran'go), 464 

Dyes, 63 



INDEX 



505 



Eads (edz), Capt. James B., 172 
Earthquakes — Central America, 474, 

479 ; San Francisco, 379 
East Liverpool, Ohio, 302 
Ed'monton, 430 
Elephant Butte Dam, 364 
EUis Island, 87-89 
Erie (e'ri), 67, 76 
Es'kimos, 15, 412-416, 427 
Esperanza (es-pi-ran'sa), 450 
Ev'erglades, 161, 168 

Fairbanks, 405, 416 

Fall River, loi 

ligs, 370 

Firearms, 108 

Fishing — cod, 112, 442; general, 49, 
111-112, 115; Alaska, 408; Canada, 
423; Florida, 165; halibut, 430; 
salmon, 388-390, 412, 430 

Flax, 105 

Florida, 160-171; birds, 164; climate, 
161-162; fishing, 164-165; fruits, 
166-171; Keys, 161; railways, 162 

Flour, 56, 238-239. See also Wheat 

Forests, 54; California, 372; Canada, 
423, 431, 435; Central America, 471; 
Great Lakes, 250-258; kinds of trees, 
158, 251; Mexico, 450; National for- 
ests of U. S., 253; New England, 
iii; Pacific Coast, 251, 383-385; 
southern U. S., 126, 157-160, 164, 
I 89- I 90 

Forestry Service, 54 

Fort Gibbon, 416 

Fort McHenry, 56 

Fort McPherson, 154, 426 

Fort Sumter, 155-156 

Fort Worth, 317 

Fort Yukon, 426 

FrankHn, Benjamin, 67 

Frasch (frash), Herman, 196 

Eraser (fra'zer) River. 431 

Fremont', Ohio, 269 

Freeport, Texas, 195 

Frijoles (f re-ho'las) , 462 

Fruit raising, 55, 166-171, 273, 363, 369 

Fulton, Robert, 79 

Furs — Alaska, 408; Canada, 427-428; 
fox farming, 442; seals, 410 



Galveston (gal'ves-tun), loi, 193 

Garden of the Gods, 324 

Gasoline, 206 

Gatun (ga-toon'). Dam and Lake, 484 

Geysers (gl'serz), 331-332 

Glaciers — Alaska, 407-408; Canada, 

431; U. S., 329, 393 
Glass making, 301-302 
Goethals (go'thalz), George W., 486 
Gold — Alaska, 408, 411; Canada, 

418-422, 423, 432; Central America, 

469; Mexico, 448; quartz mining, 336; 

refining process, 340-341; U. S., 

335-341, 378 
Gorgas, W. C, 485 
Government Departments of U. S. — 

Agriculture, 24, 51-54; Census, 49; 

Commerce, 49-50; Education, 51; 

Engraving and Printing, 43; Forestry, 

54; Geological Survey, 51; Interior, 

26, 50-51; Immigration, 87; Justice, 

46; Labor, 50; Mines, 51; Navy, 39-41; 

Patents, 51; Pensions, 51; Post 

Office, 46-49; State, 26, 38-39; 

Treasury, 26, 41-46; War, 41; 

Weather Bureau, 53 
Grand Banks of Newfoundland, 442 
Grand Canyon, 326, 363 
Granite, 112 

Grant, General U. S., 302 
Grapefruit, 168 
Graphite, 154, 281 
Great Bear Lake, 422 
Creat Lakes, 15, 18-19, 76, 106, 258-274, 

422; basin of, 259-260; canals, 261; 

cities on, 266; commerce of, 259, 

263-264; head of navigation, 242 
Great Salt Lake, 193, 358 
Great Slave Lake, 423, 426 
Greensboro, N. C, 147 
Guadalajara (gwa-tha-la-ha'ra) , 464 
Guanajuato (gwa-na-hwa'to) , 448, 464 
Gulf of Mexico, 15, 171-172, 445 
Gulf Stream, 445 
Guatemala (gwa-ta-ma'la), 469, 471-476; 

city, 474 

Hamilton, Alexander, 80 
Hampton Roads, 55, 127 
Hannibal (han'i-bal), Mo., 220 



5o6 



NORTH AMERICA 



Hartford, 102, 105 

Harris, Joel Chandler, 154. 

Harrison, Benjamin, 306 

Hats, 62 

Haverhill (ha'ver-il>, 102 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 118 

Henequen (hen'e-ken), 451 

Henry, Patrick, 138 

Hibbing, 244 

Hogs, 52; boys' clubs, 231 

Holyoke (hol'yok), 103 

Honduras (hon-doo'ras), 469, 476 478 

Hood, Mt., 386 

Hoosac (hoo'sak) Mts., 105 

Houston (hus'tun), 193, 204 

Hudson Bay, 15, 423, 427 

Hudson Bay Company, 426 

Hudson River, 72, 75, 76. 79 

Huron, Lake, 264 

Icebergs, 41, 443 

Immigration, 87-89 

Indian River, 166 

Indianap'olis, 300-307 

Indians — Alaskan, 4 1 1-4 1 2 ; Aztecs 
(az'teks), 459-462, 476; Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, 51; Canadian, 427; 
Central American, 469; Cherokees 
(cher-o-kez'), 400; Chickasaws 

chik'a-soz), 400; Choctaws (chok'toz) 
400; cliff dwellers, 326, 397; Creeks, 
400; dress of, 398-400; Hopi (ho'pe), 
397; Jamestown, 133; Mayas(ma'yaz), 
476; Montezuma, 460; Navajo 
(nav'a-ho), 397-398; schools for, 127, 
398; Seminoles (sem'i-nolz) , 161,400; 
totem (to'tem), 412; in United 
States, 397-403; in World War, 398 

Inland Empire, 395 

Iron and steel — deposits of iron in 
U. S., 243; history of iron, 243; Lake 
Superior iron mines, 242-250; steel 
manufacturing, 55, 63, 72, 154, 295- 
299, 300, 303, 311; by-products, 299; 
unloading ore from ships, 269-271 

Irrigation — Canada, 364; Mexico, 364, 
446; U. S., 357, 360-367, 396; of the 
world, 366 

Itasca (i-tas'ka). Lake, 211 

Ixtaccihuatl (es-tak-se'hwat'l), 454 



Jackson, Andrew, 161 
Jacksonville, 156, 162-164 
James River, 127, 132, 137 
Jamestown, 127, 132-133 
Jefferson, Mt., iii, 386 
Jewelry, 103 
Jordan River, 357 
Juneau (joo'no), 405, 408 

Kansas City, 317 

Katahdin (ka-ta'dm), Mt., in 

Katmai (kat-mi'), Mt., 405, 410 

Keokuk (ke'6-kuk), 220-223 

Keokuk Canal, 222 

Kerosene, 206 

Ketchikan (kech-i-kan'), 407 

Keweenaw (ke'we-no) Peninsula, 219 

Key, Francis Scott, 56 

Key West, 161, 162 

Kilauea (ke-lou-a'a), 331 

Klamath (klam'ath) River, 329 

Klondike River, 418 

Kodiak (kod-yak'), 409 

Koyukuk (ko-yoo'kook) River, 405 

Kuskokwim (kus'ko-kwim) R., 405 411 

Labrador (lab-ra-dor'), 15 

Lawrence, Capt. James, 80 

Lawrence, Mass., loi 

Lead, 18, 448 

Lemons, 53, 168, 370, 446, 469 

I'Enfant, Pierre (pyar laN-faN) , 22 

Liberty bell, 67 

Limon (le-mon'), 476 

Los Angeles (los ang'gel-es), 369, 375, 
377_ 

Louisiana, 105, 189 

Louisiana Purchase, 176, 409 

Louisville (loo'is-vil), 306 

Lowe (lo), Mt., 376 

Lowell, Mass., loi 

Lubricating oil, 206-207 

Lumber — Canada, 423; export of, 129, 
171, 190; Great Lakes, 252, 253-255; 
mahogany, 472; Pacific states, 252, 
25s, .S84-385, 393; shipping on 
Mississippi, 215; southern states, 158, 
252, 255; uses of, 252-253. See also 
Forests 

Lynn, Mass., 102, 106 



INDEX 



507 



Mackenzie River, 16, 422, 426 

Madison, Mt., iii 

Maguey (mag'wa), 453 

Mahogany, 105, 471-472 

Maine, 97, iii 

Mammoth Cave, 306 

Managua (mii-na'gwa), 478 

Manchester, loi 

Manitoba (man-i-to'ba), 425 

Marble, 112 

Marshall Pass, 352 

Massachusetts, 97, 99 

Mauna Loa (mou'nalo'a), 331 

McKinley, Mt., 322, 409 

McKinley, President, 305 

Meat packing, 105-106, 318; by- 
products, 317; Chicago, 314-318; 
Fort Worth, 189. See also Cattle 

Memphis (mem'fis), 213 

Mendenhall Glacier, 407 

Meriden (mer'i-den), 103 

Merrimac (mer'i-mak) River, loi 

Mesabi (me-sa'be) Mts., 244 

Mestizos (mes-te'zoz), 469 

Mexico, 445-467; farming, 446-448; 
government, 456; Indians, 448; 
minerals, 448; population, 448; rail- 
ways, 449 

Mexico city, 454-462 

Michigan (mish'i-gan) , 106, 249 

Milwau'kee, 266, 318-319 

Minneap'olis, 106, 238-242 

Mint, U. S., 68-71 

Miraflores (me-ra-flo'ras), 486 

Mississippi River, 16, 18, 210-223; delta, 
172-173; head of navigation, 242; 
islands, 220; jetties, 172; length, 211; 
lev'ees, 174, 214-215; steamers, 210, 
211 

Mississippi valley, 18, 97, 210-242 

Missouri (mi-soo'ri) River, 18, 211, 220 

Mobile (mo-bel'), 171 

Mohawk valley, 75 

Molasses, 86, 184-185 

Money, 41-45 

Monongahela (mo-nong-ga-he'la) River, 
290 

Monterey (mon'ter-ra') , 464 

Montreal (mont-re-ol'), 437-438; Mount 
Royal, 438 



Mormons, 357 
Moving pictures, 376 
Muir glaaier, 408 

Nashua (nash'u-a), loi 

Naval stores, 156-157, 171 

National Parks, 51, 326-335; Columbia 
Gorge, 388; Crater Lake, 388; Gen. 
Grant, 329; Gen. Lafayette, 329; 
Glacier, 326; Lassen Volcano, 329; 
Mesa Verde (ma'sa ver'de), 326; 
Mt. McKinley, 329; Mt. Ranier 
(ra-ner'), 329; Piatt, 329; Rocky 
Mountains, 329; Sequoia (se-kwoi'a), 
329, 372; Wind Cave, 329; Yellow- 
stone, 326, 331-335; Yosemite 
(y6-sem'i-te), 373-374 

Natural bridges, 328 

Natural gas, 200, 209 

Negroes, 127-129, 156 

New Bedford, 10 1 

New Brunswick, 425, 442 

New England, 15, 95-125; lakes, in; 
manufacturing, 99-104; rivers, 99; 
wealth, 97 

New Orleans (or'le-anz), loi, 173-179; 
markets, 177; railways, 175; wharves 
177 

New York, 55,72-94; American Museum 
of Natural History, 92; apartment 
houses, 73; Bedloes Island, 91; 
bridges, 92; Broadway, 80, 81; 
Brooklyn Bridge, 91; boroughs, 75; 
Central Park, 94; churches, 94; East 
River, 73,92; elevated railways, 82-83; 
Fifth Avenue, 92; Grant's Tomb, 92; 
hotels, 81; library, 92; Metropolitan 
Museum of Art, 92; police, 75; 
Riverside Drive, 92; Statue of 
Liberty, 91; Stock Exchange, 80; 
stores, 82; traffic, 75; Trinity Church, 
79; underground railways, 73, 82; 
theaters, 92-94; Wall Street, 80-81; 
Zoological Garden, 94 

New York State Barge Canal, 76, 264, 
273 

Newark, 72 

Newfoundland (nu'f und-land) , 15, 425, 
442 

Newport, 108 



5o8 



NORTH AMERICA 



Newport News, 129 

Niagara (nl-ag'a-ra) , 274-282; bridges, 

277-278; Cave of the Witids, 277; 

Goat Island, 275; Grand Island, 275; 

Maid of the Mist, 277; river, 274; 

waterpower, 278-282, 437 
Nicaragua (nik-a-ra'gwa) , 469, 476 
Nicaragua, Lake, 478 
Nickel, 435 
Nome (nom), 411 
Norfolk, 127-132 
Northwest Territory, 426 
Nova Scotia (no'va sko'shya), 425, 442 



Oakland, 381 

Oaxaca (wa-ha'ka), 464 

Ocean steamships, 56, 87, 115 

Ohio, great men of, 305 

Ohio River, 302 

Okefenokee (o-ke-fe-no'ke) Swamp, 158 

Old Point Comfort, 127 

Olives, 370 

Omaha (o'ma-ho) , 317, 323 

Ontario (6n-ta'ri-o), 425 

Ontario, Lake 437 

Oranges, 53, 166-168, 370, 446, 469 

Oregon, 382 

Orizaba (o-re-sa'ba), 451 

Ostriches, 363, 376 

Ottawa (6t'a-wa), 436 

Ottawa River, 436-437 

Owens River, 376 

Oysters, 58-61, 129 

Pacific States, 369 

Pacific Northwest, 382-396 

Panama — repubhc, 15, 479; Canal, 

481-489; city, 479 
Pan-American Union, 39 
Paper, 103 
Paraffin, 207 

Passaic (pa-sa'ik) River, 72 
Patapsco (pa-taps'ko) River, 55 
Pat'erson, 72 
Pathfinder Dam, 364 
Pawtuck'et, loi 
Peanuts, 130-132 

Pedro Miguel (pa'dro me-gel'), 486-487 
Penn, William, 65, 67 



Petroleum — Alaska, 204; California, 
377; exports, 86; Mexico, 464-466; 
pipe hnes, 205-206; products, 206-207, 
refining, 63, 208-210; U. S. 51, 126; 
199-210; world production, 203 

Philadelphia, 21, 61-72 

Phosphates, 154, 161 

Pikes Peak, 324 

Pilgrims, 122-123 

Pineapples, 56, 168, 446, 450-451, 469 

Pittsburgh, 292-302 

Plymouth Rock, 122-123 

Pocahon'tas, 133 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 56 

Point Barrow, 405, 411 

Ponce de Leon (pon'tha da la-on'), 160 

Pon'chartrain, Lake, 174 

Popocatepetl (p6-po'ka-t5'pet'l) 454, 
462-464 

Porcupine River, 405, 426 

Port Arhur, 204, 433, 438 

Portland, Maine, 105 

Portland, Oregon, 386-388 

Poto'mac River, 20, 24, 26 

Pottery, 72, 302 

Poultry clubs, 53, 231 

Prairie dogs, 353-355 

Pribilof (pre-be-lof) Islands, 410 

Prince Edward Island, 425, 442 

Prince Rupert, 430 

Prince William Sound, 408 

Princeton, 72 

Providence, R. I., loi, 103, 105, 108 

Prunes, 370 

Public lands of U. S., 51 

Pueblo (pweb'lo), 351 

Puerto Barrios (pwer'to bar-re'os), 476 

Puerto Mexico, 467 

Puget (pu'jet), Sound 367, 390-393 

Quakers, 65 
Quarries, 112 
Quebec', 425, 440-442 
Quirigua (ke-re'gwa), 476 

Railways — Alaska, 408; Canada, 427, 
431. 437; Central America, 467-469; 
Mexico, 449; U. S., 19, 21, 55, 63-65, 
72, 73, 75, 94, 109, 117, 154, 162, 175, 
210, 216, 266, 350-355, 378, 391 



INDEX 



509 



Ranier (ra-ner'), Mt., 329, 386, 393 

Reclamation, 51, 158-159, 359-367 

Red River valley, 233 

Regina (re-ji'na), 433 

Reindeer, 51, 414 

Revere, Paul, 1 21-122 

Rhode Island, 97 

Rice, 185-188 

Richmond, 137-138 

Rideau (re-do') River, 436 

Riley, James Whitcomb, 306-307 

Rio Grande (re'o gran'da), 364 

Rochester, 273 

Rocky Mountains, 323, 431-432 

Roosevelt Dam, 363 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 31 

Rose festivals, 375, 386 

Rosin, 156 

Ross, Betsy, 67 

Rubber, 72, 303-305, 472 

St. Anthony, Falls of, 211, 223, 2 jo 

St. Au'gustine, 160 

St. Eli'as, Mt., 408 

St. Helens, Mf., 386 

St. Johns River, 162-163 

St. Joseph, 317 

St. Lawrence River, 15, 16, ig, 422, 438 

St. Marys River, 263 

St. Paul, 239-240, 317 

St. Louis, 216-220, 317 

Salina Cruz (sa-le'na kroos), 467 

Salt, 106; Louisiana and Texas, 193-1 )3 ; 

Poland, 193; Utah, 193, 358-359 
Salt Lake City, 322, 355-359 
Salt River, 363 

Salvador (sal- va-d5r') , 469, 479 
San Francis'co, 378-381 
San Jose (san ho-sa'), 478 
San Louis Potosi (san loo -es' po-t6-se') , 

464 
San Salvador, 479 
Sandy Hook, 488 
Santiago (san-te-a'go), 488 
Saskatchewan (sas-kach'e-won), 16, 425 
Savannah, 156 

Schuylkill (skool'kil), River, 65, 71 
Scranton, 283 
Seattle (se-at"l), 390-393 
Seward (su'ard), 409 



Shasta (shas'ta), Mt., 328, 382 

Sheep, 52, 53, 353 

Shipbuilding, 55, 62-63, 105, 129 

Shoes and leather, 62, 63, 102, 106-108, 
117 

Shoshone (sh6-sho'ne). Dam, 363 

Sierra Nevada (si-er'a ne-va'da) , 369 

Silk, 62, 72 

Silver, 18, 68, 103; Canada, 423, 432; 
Central America, 469; Coeur d'Alene 
(kur da-lan') mines, 341; Comstock 
lode, 34; Mexico, 448; refining proc- 
ess, .344-345; Veta Madre (va'ta 
ma'dra) lode, 448; in U. S., 341-346 

Sisal (se-siil'), 451 

Sitka, 408 

Skagway, 426 

Slate, 113 

Smith, Capt. John, 97, 127, 132 

Sombrero (som-bra'ro), 458 

Soo Canal, 263, 433 

Snoqual'mie Falls, 395 

Southern States, 126-220 

Spartanburg, S. C, 147 

Spokane (spo-kan'), 396 

Sponges, 162 

Springfield, Mass., 108 

Standish, Mies, 123 

"Star-Spangled Banner," 56 

Sudbury, 435 

Sugar, cane, 56, 63, 105, 179-185, 446; 
beet, 357; mapb, 113-114 

Sulphur, 190, 195-J99, 463-464 

Superior, Lake, 105, 242-243, 261 

Supreme Court of U. S. 36-38 

Susquehanna (sus-kwe-han'a) River, 61 

Swamps, 158-160, 168, 174 

Tacoma (ta-ko'ma) 393-395 

Tahoe (ta'ho). Lake, 328 

Taku (ta'koo) Glacier, 407 

Tamale (ta-ma'le), 459 

Tampa, 171 

Tampico (tjim-pe'ko), 464 

Tanana (ta-na-na') River, 405, 416 

Tanning, 106-167 

Taylor, Zachary, 306 

Tegucigalpa, ta-goo-se-gal'pa) , 478 

Tehuantepec (ta-wtin-ta-pek'), 467 

Texas, 139, 189 



5IO 



NORTH AMERICA 



Tin, 301 

Tobacco, 56, 126, 133-137, 162, 306 

Tole'do, 266, 26g 

Toron'to, 437 

Tortilla (tor-tel'ya). 461 

Totem poles, 412 

Toy manufacturing, 103 

Trenton, 72 

Tulsa (tul'sa), 204 

Tundras, 427 

Turpentine, 156-157 

Twain, Mark, 214, 220 

United States, 17-403 

Universities and Colleges — Girard 
College, 71; Harvard, 118; John 
Hopkins, 58; Stanford, 381; Uni- 
versity of California, 381; University 
of Pennsylvania, 71; William and 
Mary College, 123; Yale, 1 18-120 

Vancouver (van-koo'ver), 431 

Vanadium (va-na'di-um) , 301 

Vanilla beans, 446, 450 

Vaseline, 207 

Vera Cruz (va'ra kroos'), 44 > 449-45° 

Vicksburg, 213 

Victoria, 431 

Vineyards, 370 

Volcanoes — Alaska, 405, 410; Central 

America, 472, 474; Hawaii, 331; 

Mexico, 462; United States, 386 

Walruses, 41 

Wars — Civil War, 129, 130, 154, 155; 
War of 181 2, 26, 29, 176, 271; Revo- 
lutionary War, 21, 120, 130; World 
War, 102 

Wasatch (wo'sach) Mts., 355 

Washington, D. C, 20-54; Capitol, 21 
22, 23, 26, 33-38; Corcoran Gallery 
of Arts, 39; House of Representatives, 
34-36; Library of Congress, 23; 
Lincoln Memorial, 26; National 
Museum, 24; Navy Yard, 24; Penn- 
sylvania Avenue, 22,33; Washington 
Monument, 24; Senate, 36; White 
House, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28-33 

Washington, George, 29, 61, 68, 72, 102, 
120 



Washington, Mt., 109 
Watch manufacturing, 103-104 
Waterbury, 103 

Water power — Appalachian Mts. 18, 
126; Canada, 436; James River, 137; 
Ke'okuk, 220; New England, 99, 112; 
Niagara, 281, 437; Pacific North- 
west, 386, 395, 396; St. Anthony, 211, 
223; Salt Lake City, 357; Southern 
States, 154-155; U. S. general, 51 
Welland Canal, 272, 437, 438 
Western highland, 16, 18, 321-325 
West Indies, 105 
Whales, 411, 426 

Wheat — Canada, 433; elevators, 237- 
238; exports, 56, 85-86, 173; his 
tory, 233; Pacific states, 369, 396 
Mexico, 446; Southern states, 189 
threshing, 235-236; U. S. general, 52 
varieties, 236; world product, 232 
White House, 426 
White Mts., 109 
White, Peregrine, 123 
Whitney, Eli, 145 
Whitney, Mt., 369 

Wild animals, 18, 21; Alaska, 405; 
Canada, 427, 430; Florida, 168; 
National Parks, 329; Western 
highland, 355 
Willamette (wi-lam'et) River, 386 
Williamsburg, 129 
Wilmington, 61 
Win'chenden, 103 
Windsor, 269 
Win'nipeg, 432 
Winnipeg, Lake, 423 
Wool, 62, 102, 115 

Yellowstone Canyon, 332 

York town, 130 

Yosemite (yo-sem'i-te). Falls, 374 

Yosemite Valley, 329 

Youngstown, 302 

Yucatan (yoo-ka-tan'), 445 

Yukon (yoo'kon) River, 405, 411, 416 

426 
Yukon Territory, 426 

Zacatecas (sa-ka-ta'kas) , 464 
Zinc, 51, 154 



